Siren's Gem
by Black Raider
Summary: A great evil as risen, so great, that the Jade Palace must gather all of its allies to fight it. But it will not be enough, for this evil is powered by a deadly person. To beat it seems impossible. However, Shifu soon finds help from an unexpected source
1. Oneshot: Unloved

Just a quick clarification: this is all one story, "Siren's Gem". But I will be including one-shots throughout the story to fill in plot holes and such. Hope you enjoy!

**Unloved**

The bell rang, and everyone rushed out of school. I stayed behind until the rest of my classmates had left before walking out with my backpack. I moved around and got to the gate. Then I walked home. It was a long way. Daddy and I live far, far away from school, but Daddy never drives me to school. I don't mind walking. Especially if it's sunny outside, like today. But it takes me a long time to get home. I have to walk all the way through the town we live in, Beijing. When I had arrived at my house, I opened the door and walked in. Daddy was sleeping on the couch with bottles around him. I hate those bottles. They smell very bad.

I tiptoed upstairs to my room and crawled into my bed. My room is very small; there's only a bed, a couple old books, and my panda doll Mommy made for me. My Mommy is never at the house. She fell asleep one day and didn't wake up. Daddy takes care of me. He buys food for me so I can cook. He brings home bottles of bad-smelling water. He drinks a lot of that water. I tried it once when he wasn't looking, but it tasted very icky. Daddy sometimes brings home leaves and makes things with them. Strange people come to our house and buy the leaves or the powder Daddy makes with the leaves.

Daddy's waking up. He's yelling for me. I walked downstairs and saw Daddy was watching TV.

"When did you get home?" Daddy asked me.

"A couple minutes ago." I answered.

"Why the hell didn't you wake me up?" Daddy yelled.

"You were sleeping." I said innocently.

Daddy shook his head. "You are so damn retarded. You'd think going to school would make you learn. Oh well. Go make me some dinner!"

"What's for dinner?" I asked.

"I don't give a damn!" Daddy snapped. "Make some chicken."

"I don't know how to make chicken." I told him. I didn't like chicken, but I can't tell Daddy.

"Useless little rat!" Daddy shouted. He stood up and smacked me. I didn't cry or whine or even flinch. Daddy hits me a lot. "Go to your damn room and don't come back until you're useful!" I turned and ran up to my room. When I was there, I jumped onto my bed and cried into my pillow.

I missed my mommy. I can remember her. Daddy was so happy when Mommy was around. Now, he's mean and hurts me. My tummy growled; I had forgotten to eat lunch. Daddy probably won't let me eat dinner. I hugged my panda doll tightly as I fall asleep.

When I wake up, it's dark. There's smoke in the house. I go to my door and peek out through the cracks in the door. There's no fire. Daddy must be making the smoke. It's a cool trick. He puts a stick in his mouth and pulls it out and blows smoke into the air from his mouth and nose. He looks like a dragon when he does that. Mommy never liked that trick. I think it's because of the smell.

Then, someone pounds on the door. A voice shouts, "Chang Jin! This is the police! Open the door!"

Why are the police at our house? Did we do something wrong?

The pounding continues. I look through the door cracks and can see the front door. It opens fast as some policemen come in.

"Chang Jin, you are under arrest for illegal drug sales and distribution." A policeman said while two others put handcuffs on Daddy. Daddy shouted at them, calling them mean names. I jumped onto my bed and wrapped my blanket around my shoulders, clutching my panda. The policemen are walking around my house. Suddenly, my door opens, and a policeman stares at me with wide eyes. I stare back.

He turned and called over his shoulder. "Hey! We've got a kid in here!" Another policeman comes and jumps when he sees me. They talk for a minute and I can't hear what they're saying. The first one slowly walks up to me.

"What's your name?" he asked.

I stayed quiet.

"Do you have any other family?"

I didn't speak.

"We're going to take you someplace safe, alright?"

I nodded.

The policeman led me off my bed and down the stairs. I still held my panda and my blanket. The policeman led me outside. There were a lot of other police cars outside my house. The policeman that is with me tells me to wait next to his car and walks away. I sit down on a rock next to the car. The police are all around me, talking. I can't see Daddy. I pull my blanket over my head and hug my panda. I don't want to see what is going on. I'm scared. I want my mommy. I want to go to sleep. I rock back a forth for a moment before lying down to sleep.

I have a dream that Mommy is with me. She is in a pretty white dress. She hugs me and says it will be ok.

"Be strong, little one." Mommy said. "Everything will be alright. You're going to a new world, where someone will find you and take care of you. He is very nice and will not hurt you in any way. He looks like this." Mommy gave me a gold heart on a chain. She opened it and showed me the picture inside. Then she put it around my neck. "Stay strong. You will be a great warrior one day." Mommy disappeared.

I woke up and pulled the blanket off my head. The police were gone. I was still outside my house. They must have left without me. Mommy's gold locket was around my neck. I looked at the picture again before I stood up and started walking. My house is next to a forest. I walked into the forest, looking for the person in the locket. I walking around and around for a long, long time. The trees were scary-looking. My feet hurt because I had walked for a long time. I rubbed my eyes and yawned. Then, I tripped and fell into the dark. I squeezed my eyes shut.

I opened my eyes when I stopped falling. I was sitting on the ground next to a tree. I stood up and kept walking. Trees and bamboo were all around me. I didn't stop walking. But I was getting more and more tired.

I saw a little house in front of me. I knocked on the door, but it opened by itself. I walked inside. No one was home. But there was a nice bed in the corner. I was so tired. So I climbed into the bed and pulled my blanket over me. I snuggled into the bed and held my panda close to me. Soon, I was asleep.

The sun woke me up the next morning. I sat up and stretched. I had a nice sleep.

"Hello."

I spun around to see who had said that. When I saw them, I froze.

It was a very large lizard, like the ones I see in my backyard, but more colorful and a lot bigger. He had on a dark red shirt and light blue pants. His tongue flickered in and out of his mouth. He stared at me with his big, colorful eyes. I stared back for a long time. I took my mommy's locket and opened it. I looked at the picture, and then at the lizard, and then at the picture, and back at the lizard. I showed the lizard the picture in my locket. He looked, and then he smiled.

"Come, little one." He said, offering a clawed hand. "I'll take care of you."

I smiled a little and took his hand.


	2. Chapter One: A Meeting

Just a note, because I noticed this in a review: the unnamed person in the last chapter wasn't Shifu as a cub. Sorry.

**Chapter One- A Meeting**

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

Pause.

"Are we there yet?"

"_No_."

Pause (little longer).

"Are we there yet?"

"_No, Panda!" _

"Jeez, sorry!" Po flinched.

"Well, if you stopped asking, we wouldn't be yelling!" Shifu snapped.

"Honestly, Po, does it _look _like we're there yet?" Tigress agreed.

"I'm tired!" Po whined.

"We're all tired, Po." Crane said. "You're not the only one that was fighting bandits."

"Alright, alright." Po shrugged in defeat. "But when will we be home?"

"Now." Shifu announced. Everyone stopped and looked out ahead. The village lay in front of them. Home never looked so amazing after the two week long mission to the Northern Mountains. As the group traveled down, villagers welcomed them back gratefully.

"You guys go on ahead." Po said as they neared the Noodle Shop. "I've gotta check on my dad and make sure he isn't freaking out."

"Take your time, Po." Shifu nodded. "We all need our rest."

"We'll meet up at the palace!" Monkey called as he ran ahead. "I want noodle soup for dinner!" Po nodded and walked into the shop. Shifu and the Five continued their journey to the palace. They were all so tired they almost didn't make it up the steps. Shifu pushed on the door, but it seemed to be locked.

"Lily!" he called over the wall. "Open up!"

"What's the password?" a girl's voice asked through the door.

"We don't have a password." Mantis said.

"Yes we do." The voice said. "I made one up while you were gone."

"Then how are we supposed to know it?" Crane pointed out.

"You…" there was a pause. "Alright, good point." The door opened to reveal a young panther's face. She had bright green eyes and wore black clothing, hardly visible. "Welcome home, guys. How was the mission?"

"Tiring." Viper admitted. "One of our biggest battles yet."

"Did you bring me home a souvenir?" Lily asked.

"Here." Shifu placed a pure white stone (called Moon Rocks and commonly found on the Northern Mountains) into Lily's hand. "That's all we could find."

"Good enough." Lily said. "Thanks." She tossed the stone up and down a few times. "Well, I'd better head home."

"If you can spare a minute, I'll get your pay." Shifu offered.

"Don't worry about it." Lily waved her paw. "Being the emergency guardian while you're all away is part of my job description, along with the night guard thing."

"You sure?"

"Positive." Lily nodded. "Good night." She walked off, whistling to herself.

"Best night guard we've ever had." Tigress noted. Everyone else agreed as they journeyed to the kitchen. Po joined them soon after and started making dinner. After everyone had been served, Zeng suddenly popped in.

"Oh good, you're back!" he said. "A message came while you were gone." He delivered the scroll to Shifu before flying off. Shifu opened the scroll and scanned it.

"Odd….." he muttered.

"Who's it from?" Po asked.

"Master Chao." Shifu said. "Passing through the Valley and wants to meet with me."

"We're not having another inspection, are we?" Po asked. "Because if we are, I'm staying at Dad's until it's over."

"He just wants to talk." Shifu replied. "Mainly to me."

"About what?" Po inquired.

At this, Shifu rolled up the scroll and glared. "None of your business." He hopped down from his chair and limped out of the room. Tigress glared at Po.

"Why must you ask so many questions?" she snapped.

"I was just curious." Po shrugged.

"By the sound of it, I would guess that Master Chao's in trouble." Monkey said.

"I agree." Viper nodded. "But how?"

"Who knows?" Mantis said. "We can ask Shifu, but I think it's a discussion for him and Chao alone."

"What, no 'lets-go-sneak-into-their-meeting-and-find-out-what's-up' plan?" Po said, surprised. "Is there something wrong with you, Mantis?"

"Oh shut up." Mantis grumbled.

Meanwhile, Shifu was continuing down the hallway. He stopped by his room for a cloak and wrapped it around his shoulders, placing a rice hat on his head. Then he ran off into the village, hidden in the shadows. The old master stopped outside a pub on the outskirts of the valley. He made sure his hat and cloak were concealing him properly before walking inside. No one paid much attention to him. Most of the men were drinking, sleeping, or watching pretty ladies dance for them. Shifu weaved through the crowd and up to the counter. He climbed onto a stool and noticed a panther girl, identical to Lily, on the other side. Unlike Lily, this girl had bright blue eyes and very little clothing; all she had one was a strapless piece of cloth around her breasts and underwear with a see-thru silk skirt, all of it jade green.

Shifu cleared his throat. The panther turned to him and smiled mischievously. "Good evening, kind sir." The panther bowed. "How may I help you?"

"I have an appointment that I'm already late for." Shifu said. "Can you help me, Ling?"

The panther glanced around. "Of course. Anything for my best customer. Please come this way." Ling walked from behind the counter and motioned for Shifu to follow her. As they walked through the pub, Ling waved cutely and traced her tail along men's noses, making them go all googly-eyed. Shifu rolled his eyes under his hat. _Seductive little kitten. _He thought. Ling led Shifu through a back door and down a long hallway. When they got to the end, there was a large oak door with a brass handle.

Ling knocked. "You still in there?" The door opened with a creak. Shifu and Ling cautiously stepped inside. Only one lantern was lit, barely lighting up the room. Ling walked ahead of Shifu, her ears swiveling around. Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind them. A figure in a black hooded cloak dropped down in front of them. Ling hissed a warning, but the figure attacked. Shifu jumped to avoid its claws and Ling leaped onto its back. The figure flipped her over its head and she went flying into the wall. Ling dug her claws into the wall, holding on. The figure whipped its tail around at Shifu, who jumped to avoid it. He jumped up and delivered a well-placed kick to the attacker's stomach, sending him careening into a bed nearby. Ling jumped into the air, did a flip, and landed on the figure before it could rise. When Shifu stood, he saw Ling on her hands and knees, with the figure on its back and Ling's paw on its chest. There was stillness for a while, and Shifu walked up to the side of the bed.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're enjoying this." Shifu said.

Ling shot him a look and shrugged. "Don't deny a girl her pleasures." She reached up and removed the figure's hood. When she saw who it was, her eyes widened and she back flipped off the bed, bowing. "Master Chao!"

The lizard master stood from the bed and brushed himself off. He motioned for Ling to rise. "Keep your voice down; we don't want anyone to know who's _really _in here."

Ling nodded. "You could've said something sooner!" she snapped. "Look, you two wanted to meet here and talk. So why don't you do that, while I go change out of this getup?" Ling stomped over to the walk-in closet across the room.

"You don't look that bad!" Chao called back to her. Ling turned and glared hard. Chao and Shifu only laughed. Ling stuck her nose in the air and walked into the closet, slamming the door shut behind her.

Shifu turned to Chao, removing his hat. "It's been a while. What is it you wanted to speak to me about?"

Chao's smile disappeared. He looked extremely concerned. "Why don't we sit down?" He suggested, gesturing to the table and chairs nearby. He and Shifu sat down, pouring themselves some tea from the pot on the table.

"Is something wrong, Chao?" Shifu asked.

Chao sighed. "I had just returned from a mission a few days ago. I found something that…." Chao stared at his tea. He looked exhausted.

Shifu placed a comforting hand on Chao's clawed one. "What happened?"

Chao took a breath and began his story.


	3. Chapter Two: Gather the Allies

Italicized is flashback. Normal is Chao speaking.

**Chapter Two- Gather the Allies**

"It was a simple mission. Or so I thought. My employer was a village elder from the Eastern Plains. His daughter had been kidnapped and wanted me to rescue her."

_Chao crawled on all fours, keeping low to the ground and staying in the shadows. Ahead, a large workshop stood ahead, through the trees Chao leaped across. It was heavily guarded by gorillas and elephants with large hammers and axes. Fortunately, Chao's stealth training was plenty to sneak past them. He pulled his hood farther over his head; he couldn't be seen. _

_Chao snuck about the workshop. There weren't many rooms, but every room was filled with gorillas or a few elephants doing work, which would explain why the building was so huge. Chao passed a room that was filled with smoke. He looked in through a barred window and raised an eyebrow. Inside was an old man, a lynx to be exact. His fur's color was dull and he was in a lotus position, meditating with incense in front of him. Chao was about to turn and leave when the lynx spoke up. _

"_You may enter, if you wish." He said. "I am not your enemy." Chao looked back at the lynx, who had opened his eyes and was staring at him. At one point in his life, the lynx's eyes would've been bright yellow, like gold. But now, they were lifeless and sad. Chao was wary as he stepped inside._

"_I am Master Chao, Hierarch of the Sacred Onyx Council." Chao introduced, removing his hood. "Who are you?"_

"_Jien." The lynx said. "Soothsayer, and currently the prisoner of Jiao-long."_

_Chao was shocked. Another prisoner? "Why are you his prisoner?"_

"_I am a soothsayer." Jien said. "Jiao-long uses me to see his future. He is a very evil man; he wants power."_

"_What have you told him?" Chao asked hurriedly. He wanted to leave this place soon with both the elder's daughter and Jien. _

"_I have given him a prophecy that would either end his life, or give him great strength to do whatever he wishes." Jien said. "His men are translating it now."_

"_Can you remember what you said?" Chao inquired. Suddenly, voices were heard down the hallway. _

"_You must leave!" Jien warned. "If Jiao-long finds you, he will kill you for sure!"_

"I didn't want to leave him, but he looked so desperate to keep me safe. I didn't have much of a choice, so I snuck out before the voices could get any closer."

_Chao kept going down the hallway. The longer he was in the shop, the more he wanted to leave. Where was the elder's daughter? As Chao passed a room, he heard arguing._

"_You're not translating it right!"_

"_Like you can read this stupid prophecy better!"_

_Chao skidded to a halt and hid right outside the door, listening._

"_Let me see it!" _

"_No! I'm almost done!"_

"_You're not doing it right!"_

"_I can read perfectly fine!"_

"_But that stupid soothsayer wrote in a different language!"_

"_Why do you think Jiao-long made _me _the translator? I'm fluent in over a hundred languages!" _

_There was grumbling._

"_There! Done!"_

"_But I still don't understand! What power? Who are the armies? What in the name of Heaven above is the Siren's Gem?"_

"_Who knows? But we have what we want." _

"_Write a second copy. If we lose this, Jiao-long will have our heads." _

_There was a pause._

"_There, a second copy! I'll hide it."_

"_Don't bother. We have to get this to Master Jiao-long!"_

_Chao leaped up and held onto the ceiling with his claws. Two gorillas walked out, one holding a rolled up piece of paper. When they had left, Chao flipped into the room. Two papers were on the desk inside. One had "Prophecy" written across the top. The other had "Prophecy Translated" across the top. Chao took the second one and tucked it safely away into the pocket in his robes. Chao started down the hallway again when a shout rang through._

"_Bring the elder's daughter to me immediately!" a cruel voice yelled. Chao leaped up to the ceiling once more and crawled to where the voice had come from. He was shocked to see it come from Jien's room. Chao looked into the room and saw Jien with another man. The man was a komodo dragon, pure black, with piercing brown eyes. He wore black robes trimmed with gold. A scabbard was attached to his belt, the beautifully jeweled hilt of his sword glittering in the light. Chao remained still and quiet as a gorilla came down the hallway. Chao recognized a small, white wolf pup squirming in the gorilla's grip as the elder's daughter. She was in a pretty purple cheongsam, but it was covered in dirt and wrinkled. The gorilla tossed the pup into the room, blocking the entrance. Chao moved to see through the barred window. _

"_Here she is." The Komodo dragon mused. "Our little guest."_

"_I demand you release me at once!" the wolf pup shouted. She couldn't be any older than eleven, but her voice was commanding and strong. _

"_And why should we do that?" the Komodo dragon asked. "You're going to help me take China for myself." _

"_Even if I would, how can I do that?" the wolf asked._

_The Komodo dragon pulled out a piece of paper. "This prophecy says that the Siren's Gem holds enormous power. With it, I can destroy China and remake it in my image."_

"_You're crazy!" the pup cried._

"_Why, thank you."_

"_How am I supposed to help, anyhow?" _

_The Komodo dragon chuckled. "Your home is famous for their mining. Your miners have found many precious jewels and gold. Surely, you have found a gem that was different from the rest. That must be the Siren's Gem!" The Komodo dragon leaned close to the pup's face. "And if your dear father wishes to see you again, he'll have to find that gem and give it to me."_

_The pup swung her paw around and smacked the lizard. "Stupid, low-life son of a-" She was cut short, however, when the Komodo dragon grabbed her throat and lifted her off the ground. _

"_Jiao-long!" Jien shouted. "Put her down!"_

_Ignoring him, the Komodo dragon snarled. "You had better watch your tone." Jiao-long warned. "Or else I might have to hurt you even worse."_

"_Jiao-long!" Jien shouted again._

"_Drop her!" Chao yelled. He burst through the bars of the window and kicked Jiao-long's face. The wolf pup dropped to the ground as Jiao-long slammed into the wall. The gorilla tried to run in, but he didn't fit inside the doorway. Chao grabbed the wolf pup and Jien and pulled them behind him, taking a defensive stance. Jiao-long stood, seething._

"_I know you." He said. "You're Master Chao, of the Sacred Onyx Council."_

"_And _you _must be Jiao-long." Chao retorted. "Soon-to-be-prisoner of Chorh Gom Prison."_

_Jiao-long laughed and drew his sword. "Foolish old man." He lunged, but Chao swiped his tail at his face, and he went flying back again. His sword became embedded into the wall. Chao lunged, and the two became engaged in combat. _

"I didn't know what I could do. The door was still being blocked by the gorilla, Jiao-long fought well, I had two people to protect, and the room wasn't that big. I was prepared to go down fighting until we all got a surprise."

_Jiao-long took a swipe at Chao's legs and the master ended up on his back. Dazed, Chao found his vision had gone fuzzy. Jiao-long grabbed his sword and yanked it from the wall. Before Chao could rise, Jiao-long stomped a foot on his chest. _

"_Nice try, old man." Jiao-long taunted, raising his sword. "But I have a few tricks up my sleeve." Jiao-long brought the sword down. Chao braced himself for the cold, hard steel._

_There was a sound of metal on wood. _

_Chao looked up and saw a Bo staff that had just stopped the blade from taking his life. Jiao-long and Chao looked towards the staff's owner and saw a young woman. She wore green pants, a sky-blue shirt with jade trim, and a hooded black cloak that hid her face. Her hands and bare feet were pale and hairless. The Bo staff in her hands was ebony black with a gold dragon circling it._

"_Don't touch him." She snarled. The girl shifted her weight and swung her staff up. Jiao-long's sword went flying into the ceiling. The girl did a spinning back kick and her foot connected with the lizard's stomach. Jiao-long was once again thrown into the wall. The girl helped Chao to his feet._

"_Take the kid and the soothsayer and run!" she ordered, pushing them towards the door. The gorilla was out cold. "I'll hold him off, but you have to run straight to the exit!" _

_Chao was frozen for a moment. He knew that voice….._

"_GO!" the girl shouted. She shoved Chao through the door and slammed it shut. Chao was still in shock, but shook it off and ran down the hall, dragging the elder's daughter and Jien behind him. Gorillas and elephants tried to stop them, but Chao took them all down in an instant. There were shouts for back-up. Chao hurried the group along. But where was the exit? Chao had wandered all over the workshop for so long that he forgot where he had come from. He pulled the elder's daughter and Jien into a room and shut the door, barricading it with a large desk._

"_What do we do now?" the elder's daughter asked._

_Chao looked around the room. There were boxes everywhere, floor to ceiling, filled with fireworks. _

"_We're on the top floor." Jien said. "If you can break through the ceiling, you'll have a straight shot to the river." Chao cracked his knuckles and jumped to the ceiling. He swung his foot up and, with a cry of effort, broke clean through the ceiling. He climbed out. Jien passed the elder's daughter up to him. Chao pulled her up and reached down again._

"_Take my hand!" Chao ordered. "We can get out!"_

"_Take the elder's daughter and go!" Jien ordered, pulling out a lantern he had concealed behind him. "I'll buy you some time!" He started opening boxes and letting the fireworks spill out. Horrified, Chao realized what he was doing._

"_Jien, come on!" Chao cried desperately. "I can save you!" The door was being pounded on. Soon, it would break, and they would be overwhelmed. _

_Jien looked up at him and smiled. For a moment, the light returned to his eyes. "I'll be fine." He took the candle out of the lantern just as the guards tore the door off its hinges. Jien turned to them with a smile. "Good evening, gentlemen." _

_He dropped the candle._

_Chao grabbed the elder's daughter, tossed her on his back, and ran across the roof on all fours as fast as he could. He barely had time to jump off before the top of the workshop exploded. The blast sent Chao and the elder's daughter flying past the river and into the woods. The trees broke their fall and made their landing a little softer. _

_The elder's daughter rubbed her head. "That was quite a fall. You alright, Master Chao?" She looked around. "Master Chao?" She saw him a ways away. He was staring at the column of smoke rising from the building. She walked up to him and took his hand in hers, giving it a squeeze. _

_Chao could do nothing but lower his head in shame._

"I could've saved all of them." Chao finished. "The wolf, Jien, and the girl that saved me, I could've gotten them all out. But I didn't. I failed."

Shifu had been listening intently. Ling had come in early into his story and had to swallow hard to keep her tears in. She had changed into black clothing like her sister, Lily's. The thought of kind old Jien and that brave young woman not making it was heartbreaking.

Shifu sighed. "Chao, your mission was to save the elder's daughter. And you did. Your mission was not a failure just because you couldn't save Jien or that girl. They gave their lives to save _you_."

"They shouldn't have to!" Chao snarled, standing. He began to pace. "_I _am the master. _I _was supposed to save _them_! I shouldn't be so weak to let them die!"

"Master Chao, be still!" Shifu commanded. Usually, he wouldn't use such a tone to someone considered above him in ranks, but he refused to back down. "First off, you did everything you could. Jiao-long was strong, and that's alright; we've both dealt with that. Secondly, you aren't completely sure that Jien and the girl are dead; it's possible they got out alive."

Chao sighed. "I suppose so. After all, I saw Jiao-long was still alive as I was leaving from returning the elder's daughter. So he's still out there, looking for the Siren's Gem."

"You said you found a copy of the prophecy?" Ling asked. Chao nodded and pulled it out. He laid it on the table for Shifu and Ling to see. Ling read it aloud.

"'The one chosen by his devil will rise once more to destroy China himself. His armies are so strong he won't lose. The warriors of the palace will come and fall to this threat. The one that decides the winner is the Siren's Gem.'" Ling raised an eyebrow. "How in the name of Heaven is that supposed to make sense?"

"No idea." Chao shook his head. "That's how I figured out his plan; Jien gave him this prophecy, and so he will follow it."

"But Ling has a point; the prophecy makes no sense." Shifu noted. "'The one chosen by his devil'. Jiao-long, chosen by his devil? It says his armies are strong and 'The warriors of the palace' will fall. The only thing that seems to make sense is that the Siren's Gem will decide the winner."

"So, either Jiao-long harnesses this power and defeats us, or we harness the power and defeat him." Ling suggested. "It says 'warriors of the palace'. What other palace could that be except the Jade Palace?"

"Good point." Chao nodded. "But it will be very difficult to defeat this threat. The Furious Five, the Dragon Warrior, and we won't be enough. I've seen Jiao-long's army; it truly is massive."

"Lily and I will join the fight." Ling offered. "We'd be honored to defend our home."

"Happy for the help." Shifu said. "But it won't be enough." He stared at his teacup for a moment before standing. "We should head back to the palace and gather the Five and Po. Perhaps they can offer assistance." Chao and Ling nodded in agreement. Ling led the two of them out a back door and they hurried to the palace. On the way, they picked up Lily from her house, who was not too happy about being woken up. At the palace, Shifu woke up his students and they all met in the Hall of Warriors. Once there, Chao and Shifu explained the situation. By the time they were done, everyone was wide awake and wide eyed.

"An army?" Tigress repeated. "Of gorillas and elephants?"

"Yeah, I don't think our chances of winning are that great." Crane said.

"Especially if Jiao-long finds this Siren's Gem." Po said. "What does it do, anyway?" Everyone stared at him. "What?"

"We were thinking you would know, Panda." Shifu said. "You seem to be the expert on things like this."

"Sorry." Po shrugged. "Never heard of a Siren's Gem. I know a siren is like a warning noise or a creature that sings very beautifully and causes sailors to crash their ships."

"By the sounds of it, this gem must have a lot of power." Lily said.

"I say we blow it up or something." Mantis suggested. "Make sure no one finds it."

"Mantis has a point." Ling agreed. "We can't let something like that fall in the wrong hands. I don't think it would be safe to keep it anywhere."

"First, we need to stop Jiao-long." Chao said. "I fear that he will find the gem soon and attack."

"How?" Viper asked.

"Jiao-long has an entire army!" Monkey reminded him. "There are only ten of us. We may be masters, but are our odds very good?"

"The solution is simple." Shifu said. "We create our own army. We must gather our allies."

"Which ones?" Po asked.

"All of them." Shifu answered. "Anyone that would be willing to join us in the fight." Lily ran off and returned soon after with a piece of parchment, a brush, and some ink. At the top of the paper, she wrote "Jade Palace Army".

"Alright." She said. "Who do we have?"

"There's the Five, Po, Shifu, Chao, you, and me." Ling said.

"How about Song and the Ladies of the Shade?" Po offered. "They'd be a great help. I'm sure they'd join us since Song became their leader."

"I'm sure I can convince Dosu and Sai So from my village to join the fight." Mantis said. "All he needs is the proper motivation."

"You may not torture them." Shifu said. Mantis groaned.

"What about Peng?" Tigress spoke up. "He's a pretty decent fighter."

"If we can find him, I'm sure he'll join." Shifu nodded.

"Will that be enough?" Lily asked. "Altogether, it's only about forty warriors."

"How about Temutai and his warriors?" Po suggested. "And Fung with his bandits?"

"Are you crazy?" Tigress snapped.

"Well, if they knew that they'd be in danger, too, then they'd be willing to fight." Po protested. "We're going to need all the help we can get, remember? I helped Fung once, and we've got a little agreement with Temutai since the Peace Jubilee."

"I'll put them down, just in case." Lily said, writing.

"Anyone else?" Chao asked. Everyone thought for a moment.

"Jong?" Po offered. "He isn't my favorite choice, but he's got warriors."

"I highly doubt he'd be too willing." Shifu said. "But it won't hurt to ask."

"That seems good to me." Lily said. "We should send for them all tomorrow to meet here as soon as possible."

"Sounds good." Ling nodded. Everyone else agreed.

"Master Chao, perhaps you'd like to stay here and help oversee this arrangement?" Shifu offered. "If it weren't for you, we'd have never found out about this." Chao smiled and nodded. "Then it's settled. All of you get to sleep; we have a long day ahead of us." Everyone bowed to Shifu and ran off to their rooms to sleep. Chao stayed behind.

"Something's not right….." he murmured.

"What's not right?" Shifu asked.

"Not sure." Chao said. "But I have a bad feeling that Jiao-long may already have the Siren's Gem. Perhaps Jien did live, and he was forced to reveal where it was."

Shifu thought about this. It was possible. In that case, they would have to work harder and faster. "Don't worry. We'll beat him back and send him to the hole he came from." Chao smiled and walked off, amused by Shifu's enthusiasm.

"Chao." Shifu's voice stopped him. Chao turned to the old master. "That girl that saved you, Jien, and the wolf pup; you knew here, didn't you?" Chao's smile disappeared. His hand went to his chest, fingering the fabric. Shifu nodded and waved a hand to send him off. Chao walked out of the hall and towards the barracks. As he did, he kept fingering the fabric on his clothes. Or, rather, what was _under _his clothes. Chao stopped and reached into his collar. He pulled out a gold chain from inside and pulled it off over his head. He stared at the necklace in his hand with sadness in his eyes and heart.

In his hand was a golden locket.


	4. Chapter Three: The Allies Gather

**Chapter Three- The Allies Gather**

The next morning, Lily and Ling set out to gather the army, sending messages to those farther off. Mantis journeyed to his home village to find Dosu and Sai So.

Lily returned that same afternoon with Fung and his bandits.

"They weren't easily persuaded." She admitted. "But they agreed since the Dragon Warrior helped them out."

"I can't _believe _you were that goat, Panda!" Fung grumbled. Po shrugged.

"We have tents set up in the courtyard where you can stay." Shifu said. "But if anything goes missing, you'll be drop kicked to the next dynasty. Got it?" Fung and his bandits nodded immediately; they were too afraid of Shifu to refuse.

Soon after Lily had left, Ling came with Jong and his best warriors.

"If it means my beautiful castle won't be destroyed and my son is safe, I will join." Jong told them. He walked off to his own tent, his warriors following. Shifu gave Ling a questioning look.

"I told him that if he didn't join his home would be destroyed and his son would be in danger." Ling explained. "That's all it took to get him in. He must really care for his son."

"True, he isn't _all _bad." Chao nodded. "Is anyone else coming?"

"Mantis should be back any time now." Shifu said. "His village isn't that far away."

Suddenly, Po cam running up to them. "Hey Master Shifu! Master Chao! I think I've found the perfect addition to our team!" He was jumping up and down excitedly.

"And who would that be?" Shifu asked. He noticed Po was hiding something behind his back. When Po pulled it hands around, Chao and Shifu's eyes widened and their jaws dropped.

"You released the Mongolian Fist Demon again?" Shifu shouted. The little blue creature was sitting contently in Po's paw.

"Don't worry about it!" Po shrugged. He pulled out a dumpling and held it out for the demon. The demon happily took it and started eating. "He likes dumplings. So I told him if he didn't attack us, I'd feed him."

"You trust a demon?" Chao asked.

"He'd be a great addition." Po protested. "You hit him and he gets bigger." Shifu and Chao shared a look. "Please?" Po gave his best puppy dog pout.

Shifu groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "If that thing turns on us, it'll be your head, got it?" Po nodded happily and walked off, talking to the Mongolian Fist Demon as though it were a baby.

"Your Dragon Warrior is very…" Chao paused. "Unique."

"He's definitely not what you expect." Shifu agreed. "But he gets the job done."

It wasn't until later that evening that Mantis came home. Dosu and Sai So were with him.

"We are honored to be joining the fight!" Dosu bowed. "Anything for the great master of the Jade Palace." He and Sai So walked off, and Shifu gave Mantis a look.

"I told him he would impress Hao Ming if he came home a war hero." Mantis said. "It was the best I could do."

"That'll work." Shifu nodded. "But we're still waiting for Peng and the Ladies of the Shade."

"I'm sure they'll be here." Mantis assured. "Besides, I just passed Temutai and a band of his warriors; they're on their way."

"Good." Chao nodded. "Your allies are very trustworthy."

"When the needs arise, they will meet them." Shifu said. "But I think it was a good idea to keep them in separate groups; I'm not letting Fung anywhere near Jong."

"Wise decision." Mantis mused.

Temutai and his warriors didn't reach the palace until late. Had Lily not been awake, they wouldn't have gotten in. But no one else had shown up.

"Song should be here soon." Po assured the next morning. "If not today, then tomorrow; I know she wouldn't let me down."

"I trust she wouldn't." Shifu nodded. "But we have no idea where she is, nor are we sure where Peng had traveled off to. We may have to make do with who we have."

"Let's hope it's enough." Chao said. "Having the Ladies of the Shade would increase our numbers greatly."

"Numbers don't win a battle." Shifu told him. "They only help." He sighed. "We need to gather the army at noon today and explain the situation."

"You might want to do that sooner." Tigress advised. "I had to break up a fight yesterday between one of Jong's men and Fung. Something about their mothers being insulted." Shifu pinched the bridge of his nose in agitation.

"They can wait until this afternoon." Chao said. "Right now, I wish to speak to Shifu about something important."

Shifu nodded. "All of you, off to training. Double time!" The Five and Po bowed and quickly ran off. When they had left, Shifu turned to Chao. "What did you want to talk to me about?" Chao didn't answer right away. Instead, he slowly stood and walked out of the room, motioning for Shifu to follow. Shifu did so, walking side-by-side with the lizard master. Still, Chao said nothing. Shifu didn't push for a conversation. The two of them walked together until they reached the Hall of Warriors. Chao pushed open the doors, the two walked in, and he shut them once more. The two of them walked up to the Moon Pool and finally stopped. Chao took a breath, leaped up, and landed on his tail, folding himself into a lotus position. Shifu followed suit, sitting peacefully on the ground. The two masters sat in silent meditation, attempting to gain some peace of mind. Again, Shifu didn't press for Chao's reasoning for this. The red panda could practically feel a depressing aura radiating from Chao, and he didn't like it. But it felt like more than just depression; it felt like longing.

"Shifu…."

Shifu opened his eyes and looked up. Chao was no longer in a meditative position and stood at the edge of the Moon Pool, staring into its waters. Shifu stood by him.

"What's wrong, Master Chao?" Shifu calmly asked.

"No need for formalities." Chao said. "I want this to come by as a request from a friend, not a demand from a master." Shifu only nodded. "Shifu, I've kept a secret for a long time. I fear that it may be revealed very soon. I want _you _to be the first to figure it out."

"I don't understand." Shifu said. "What secret?"

Chao didn't answer right away. Instead, he took out the golden locket from around his neck and held it out for Shifu to see. "This locket is all I have left of someone very dear to me. I believe you will meet her long before I do. My requests are simple."

"And they are…?"

"Do not open the locket until the time is right. Find the owner of the locket and return it to her. And lastly," Chao leaned in close. "Bring her home, safe and sound." He placed the locket in Shifu's hand. To Shifu, it felt heavy with forgotten memories…or forgotten feelings.

"How will I know who the owner is?" Shifu asked.

"Her picture is in the locket." Chao answered.

"How will I know when to open it?"

"You'll know." Chao nodded. "You're smart."

Shifu sighed and put the locket around his neck, tucking it into his collar. "I'll do the best I can." Chao nodded in acceptance. Shifu knew all too well who Chao was referring to. But she had disappeared a year ago; she could be dead.

Suddenly, Viper burst into the room. She slithered up hurriedly to the masters. She looked frazzled. "Masters! I hate to interrupt, but the Ladies of the Shade and Peng arrived. You must come quickly!"

"Is something wrong?" Shifu demanded.

"They've been attacked!" Viper informed. Shifu and Chao shared a quick look before following Viper to the courtyard. There, the Ladies of the Shade were waiting. Many of them were wounded and be treated. Chao and Shifu weaved through the crowd as they followed Viper. The snake master led them straight to Po, who was talking to two familiar cats.

"Peng!" Shifu called out. The young snow leopard turned and his eyes brightened.

"Master Shifu!" Peng cried. Shifu and Chao ran up to Po, who had been talking to Song. The leader of the Ladies of the Shade was currently brushing out her fur, which was messy and covered in dirt.

"What happened?" Chao asked.

"We were attacked." Song said. "We were just travelling and ran into a strange man. He said his name was Jiao-long." Song was surprised to see Chao's horrified face. "You know him?"

"Unfortunately." Chao growled. "What did he do?"

"Nothing at first." Song said. "He simply asked to speak with our leader. Since it was me, I decided we should speak in private. Jiao-long wanted the Ladies of the Shade to join his army. When I asked what he was fighting for, he wouldn't tell. So I told him, 'If you can't tell me the first time I ask, then your fight must be for a dishonorable cause, and I must refuse.' He tried to persuade me further, but I refused. I told him if he would explain his cause, I may reconsider. Again, he wouldn't tell me. So I flat-out told him to get lost. He shouted at me, said I would regret turning him down, and left.

"The next day, he returned, with a small army of gorillas and elephants. We fought hard, but were almost defeated. I had to order a retreat before he could crush us. We met Peng along the way, and he helped us find shelter and treat our wounds. Then we received your message about gathering an army." Song sighed. "I just wish we had come when we weren't so beat up."

"You don't have to fight." Shifu said. "You should rest."

"Nonsense!" Song snapped. "Everyone here wants a chance to kick Jiao-long's butt. We're right behind you, no matter what."

"Perhaps now would be a good time to talk to our army." Chao suggested. "Explain the situation."

Shifu nodded. "Po, Viper, gather everyone in the courtyard immediately." The two students bowed and rushed to do their master's bidding. "Song, you will join me and Chao. Everyone needs to hear your side of the story, since you and your warriors were attacked."

"Very well." Song stood a little shakily. "When were you planning to move out?"

"Not entirely sure." Shifu admitted. "Didn't get that far into the plan."

"First, we need to find out where Jiao-long is setting his base." Chao said. "His factory was destroyed in the little fireworks incident, so I highly doubt he would set up base there."

"Perhaps we should move out tomorrow." Song said. "Jiao-long was able to attack us only a day after we talked, so his army had to have been close to where we were camped. It took us a day to travel here as fast as we could."

"That's not good." Shifu sighed. "Let's go talk with everyone." The three of them journeyed off. When they arrived at the courtyard, the warriors of their army were divided in their respective groups. Fung and his bandits kept glaring at Jong's men. Tigress was arguing with Po about the Mongolian Fist Demon. The Ladies of the Shade hid their faces under their parasols; scowls flashed when they were seen.

"Suddenly I'm not too excited about this." Chao said.

Shifu shook his head. "If what you say is true, then we'll need all the help we can get. I'm sure once we explain the situation; everyone will learn to get along a bit better. At least, long enough to vanquish this threat." He cleared his throat for attention. Everyone immediately turned to face the master of the Jade Palace.

"As you all know, you were summoned here to form and army." Shifu announced. "An army to fight for the Jade Palace and defend China. It is an honor to have you all here. You all may be wondering why we are forming an army. The enemy we are about to face is a komodo dragon named Jiao-long. He has a huge and powerful army and plans to take China for himself. We don't know the full extent of his plans, but we intend to stop him before he can progress and further."

"He had captured a soothsayer named Jien." Chao informed them. "Jien gave Jiao-long a prophecy that would either end his life or bring him forth victorious. The prophecy spoke of something called the Siren's Gem."

"And what exactly _is _the Siren's Gem?" one of the Ladies of the Shade asked.

"We're not sure." Chao said. "It could be a creature, it could be a rare stone; all we know is that it holds a large amount of power and Jiao-long will use it to power his conquest."

"What's the plan?" Po shouted.

"That's where it gets a little tricky." Shifu said. "We're moving out tomorrow morning. I've already sent Ling and Lily to find out where Jiao-long is setting up his base. We will decide where we will camp out when they return with the information. Right now, our plan is to sneak into Jiao-long's camp and catch him off-guard. If possible, we will find the Siren's Gem and retrieve and/or destroy it."

"Shifu and I will create other battle strategies tonight." Chao promised. "We are your generals for this army, and any concerns will be relayed to us."

"Are there any questions?" Shifu asked.

"I've got one!" a Ladies of the Shade member called. "Why are we teamed up with those dimwit crocodiles? They're bandits!"

"Who are you calling dimwit?" Fung retorted. "And you guys are thieves, too!"

"_Former _thieves!" another Lady of the Shade shouted. "Even an idiot like you should know that!"

"Hey!" Gahri yelled.

"I agree with the ladies." Jong shouted. "Why are there thieves in this army? My warriors are by far the only ones trustworthy and strong enough."

"You think my warriors are not strong?" Temutai shouted. "Even the Dragon Warrior could not beat my warriors!"

"I've beaten them lots of times!" Po shouted. "And they weren't hard to beat up!"

"My warriors would beat you to a pulp!" Temutai shouted.

"And my little demon friend will beat you to a pulpier pulp!" Po retorted. The Mongolian Fist Demon growled at the Temutai's warriors.

"Now, come on!" Song shouted. "Let's all calm down!"

"Why should we listen to you?" Jong snapped. "You weren't meant to be a leader!" His warriors shouted in agreement.

"You dare insult our leader?" a Lady of the Shade growled. "We'll slice you to ribbons!"

Suddenly, voices rose. The individual parties of the army started shouting and threatening each other. Temutai's and Jong's warriors were holding their weapons ready, looking like they were about to break out in a fight. Song desperately tried to calm the crowd, but her voice disappeared.

"Great." Song sighed. "Now what?"

Shifu frowned. "Chao, Song, cover your ears." Chao obeyed immediately.

"Why?" Song asked.

"Just do it!" Chao warned. Song covered her ears just as Shifu raised two fingers to his lips. He let out a sharp, loud, and shrill whistle. Every single person who hadn't covered their ears now writhed in pain from the intense sound. When Shifu had stopped, everyone stared.

"If you are all done acting like immature children," Shifu called out. "I would like you all to know something very important." At this, everyone listened closely. "Jiao-long's army is powerful. I haven't seen it personally, but Chao's and Song's stories aren't lies; we'll be going up against a huge army of well-trained gorillas and elephants." Everyone had a worried look on their faces. "If we want to defeat Jiao-long and keep peace in China, we _all _need to work together. This isn't just some battle; it could come out a full-out war. People's lives are at stake. If we waste our time arguing with each other, then we've already lost!" Shifu's eyes scanned the crowd. "Now, are we all in this together or not? Because if you aren't going to fight with us, then you might as well go home now and hide."

Silence.

Everyone waited with baited breath, to see if anyone dared to step down.

Po stood a bit taller. "As Dragon Warrior, I am honored to fight for the Jade Palace!" The Five nodded and joined his side.

The Ladies of the Shade stood with parasols ready. "We won't run!" one shouted. "We will follow our leader fearlessly into battle!"

"Count us in!" Fung gave a thumbs-up. "This Jiao-long guy is going down!"

"My men are ready to follow your orders!" Jong agreed.

"I will personally lead my warriors into battle!" Temutai shouted.

Peng stood up tall. "None of us will back down! We're gonna show Jiao-long that you don't mess with us!"

Song glowed with pride for her sisters-in-arms and went to stand amongst them. Chao smiled.

Shifu gave a smirk of confidence. "That's better."

_STAR STAR STAR STAR STAR_

Jiao-long leaned on the table in front of him, looking over his maps. Everything was going according to plan. Half of their resources were destroyed in the explosion at the workshop, but a lot of the important stuff had been saved. Jien ("stupid old cat") had been saved, his wounds treated, and punished. The army was prepared for battle.

Most importantly, Jiao-long had the Siren's Gem.

The Komodo dragon chuckled darkly. China would soon be his. The warriors of the Jade Palace would come to stop him, but they would fall; every single one of them. Jiao-long imagined running his sword through Chao's heart, watching the light leave the foolish old master's eyes. He would pay for his interference. Jiao-long laughed out loud, unaware that no one was there.

Meanwhile, up in a lone tower within the base, a girl sat next to the window. She stared up at the sky with a deep longing. She gazed at each star, as though she were pinning the same wish onto each one.

"Baba." She whispered. "Please let me see you again."


	5. Chapter Four: Battle Plans

**Chapter Four- Battle Plans**

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

Pause.

"Are we there yet?"

"_No._"

Pause.

"Are we there yet?"

"If you ask me that one more time I'm going to tear your ears off and shove them into your mouth!"

Po cringed at Shifu's outburst. The Mongolian Fist Demon patted his arm sympathetically.

"Does he always do this?" Chao whispered.

"When he's bored." Shifu rubbed his temples. "And that's often when we go on long trips."

"Not to flare your temper, but Po has a point." Song said. "How much farther?"

"Ling and Lily should be back any time now." Shifu assured. "They'll tell us the best place to make camp. For now, I suppose we can rest." Everyone stopped and sighed in exhaustion.

"I've never traveled this far in my life!" Fun whined.

"What about the time with-" Fung punched Gahri to make him stop talking. Shifu rolled his eyes and walked a little ways away from the group. He climbed onto a rock and sat in a lotus position. He tried meditating, but there was a cold feeling on his chest that wouldn't subside. No matter how hard he tried to ignore it, it seemed like it got colder. Finally, Shifu reached into his collar and grasped the golden locket. He was tempted to open it, to see what was inside. But it didn't feel like the right time. Or did it?

Shifu sighed. He tucked the locket away and tried meditating again. But, as he sank deeper into his mediation, a vision came to him. He saw two Chinese dragons, one white and one black, fighting fiercely in the sky. The smell of blood was right below him. But before he could look down, the white dragon suddenly came hurdling towards him.

Shifu's eyes snapped open and he gasped. _It was only a vision_. He reminded himself. _Nothing more. _

Right?

Then, Shifu felt a set of claws on his shoulder. He whipped around with a punch, only to have it blocked by Chao. The lizard master stared.

"Something wrong?" Chao asked. Shifu relaxed and composed himself.

"No." Shifu shook his head. "Just…waiting for Lily and Ling."

"You don't have to wait long." Chao nodded in front of them. Shifu turned and saw two black cats running towards them. Shifu stood up as the twins skidded to a halt right in front of the masters.

"We found the perfect place to make camp." Ling said. "An old abandoned village just a mile from here."

"Very good." Chao said. He turned to the army. "Let's move out!" Everyone groaned inwardly, but stood and followed Ling and Lily to the abandoned village. When they arrived, however, everyone couldn't help but stare.

The village was completely destroyed. The houses were nothing but charred remains, hardly able to stand. A mixture of different footprints littered the ground. A few discarded weapons lay here and there. The dirt and ash mixed together. Scarce embers still glowed.

"What happened here?" Viper whispered.

"Jiao-long, no doubt." Lily said. "This fire had to have happened no more than two days ago."

"Poor souls." Shifu said softly. "Let's hope most were able to escape." He turned to the army. "We make camp here. Set up the tents. Find some firewood that isn't already burnt. We will discuss the battle plans tonight. Song, I need you to organize watch guards in case Jiao-long sends spies."

"On it." Song bowed.

Everyone began setting up. Tents rose and sleeping quarters were organized. Everyone set down stones in a circle to create a main bonfire and circled the tents around it. Chao and Shifu got their tent up first and walked in to work.

"Well, this is fun, huh?" Po said as he and the Five set up their tent. "A new adventure, some new bad guys to beat up, new awesomeness to show off!"

"This isn't a game, Po." Tigress said. "It's practically a war."

"People could seriously get hurt." Viper added.

"If something goes wrong, the consequences are going to be way more disastrous that normal." Mantis piped up.

"Oh, right." Po said solemnly. "Sorry, guys. I've never been in such a big battle like this."

"It's ok, Po." Monkey assured.

"Yeah, you wouldn't believe how nervous we were for our first battle like this." Crane encouraged.

"You're not alone." Po smiled. Then, something tapped his foot. He looked down and saw the Mongolian Fist Demon. "What's up little buddy?" The Mongolian Fist Demon made motions towards his mouth. "Oh, you're hungry?" The demon nodded. "Ok, let's get you some chow." He scooped up the little blue creature and walked off to find food. He walked around for a while before arriving at the food storage. The Mongolian Fist Demon did a cannon ball into the apple basket and started eating. One lone apple started rolling away.

"Stay out of trouble." Po told the demon. The blue creature gave a thumbs-up and kept eating. Po followed the apple into the forest nearby and found the apple. He picked it up and started eating.

_Whoosh_

Po spun around. He looked all around, searching for the source of the sound. But it was quiet, so Po kept eating. He turned to walk back to camp.

_Snap_

Po spun around once more. He knew he heard something then. The panda dropped his apple and took a kung fu stance. He looked all around. The trees loomed over him and blocked the sunlight, casting ominous shadows.

"Po!"

Po jumped three feet in the air and turned to see who had scared him. It was Song.

"Come on!" Song urged. "We're discussing the battle plan for tonight!" She took Po's paw and dragged him back to camp. Po's dropped apple lay on the ground for a little while longer before a shadowy hand snatched it up.

Back at camp, everyone gathered around the bonfire. Shifu and Chao sat at the head of the fire. Everyone else was listening.

"Glad you two could join us." Shifu said as Song and Po ran up. Once they had sat down, Shifu continued talking. "So, as you all know, we are attacking tonight." He leaned over the map of Jiao-long's base, as drawn by Ling and Lily. Shifu and Chao's writing was scribbled over it.

Shifu began the strategy. "Chao, Lily, Ling, Song, and I will sneak into the base behind the guards. We'll take out any archers or weaponry that may interfere. Lily and Ling will open the main doors to let you all in. You all need to fight hard; take out as much of Jiao-long's army as possible. Chao, Song, and I will find Jiao-long and take him out. We'll also find the Siren's Gem and destroy it."

"Destroy it?" Peng asked. "Why not keep it? Something with that much power could be useful."

"If it's possible, we'll try to save it and bring it back." Chao explained. "But something with this much power could fall into the wrong hands far too easily. Perhaps the Siren's Gem is better off destroyed."

"Once we've taken out Jiao-long and the Siren's Gem, we'll meet up with the rest of you." Shifu continued. "We'll defeat the rest of Jiao-long's army and bring them to justice. That's our plan, any questions?"

"What if something goes wrong?" Po asked. "Not that anything _will _go wrong, but I've just got a funny feeling."

"It's called pre-battle jitters." Monkey nudged him.

"Nonetheless, Po is right." Shifu said. "If anything goes wrong, we will relay the information to you through Lily, Ling, or Song. Pay close attention, it could be a retreat, or simply a change in plans." Everyone nodded in understanding. "Good. We move out after sunset. Wait for Chao and my signal." Shifu stood, rolled up the battle plans, and he and Chao walked back into their tents. Everyone else dispersed and prepared for battle.

Through the forest, at Jiao-long's base, said Komodo dragon was posing for a portrait. A guard rushed in.

"My lord, everything is ready." The guard, a gorilla, said hurriedly. "Are you sure this'll work?"

"Of course." Jiao-long said. "I'm sure Chao will attack tonight with his army. You and the rest of the men can hold them off until I get there."

"What will you be doing, again?" the gorilla guard asked nervously. "I-if I may a-ask, sir…."

"Of course." Jiao-long said. "I need someone to relay my plans to besides my personal artist.

"Finished, sir." The artist, a bunny, said. She held up the painting.

"Perfect!" Jiao-long said. He took the painting and hung it up. "You see, my guess is that Chao will come here to confront me. If he's fighting with the Jade Palace, Grandmaster Shifu will be with him. I can kill them both and they'll be out of my hair." Jiao-long ran his claws over his head. "Or, scales, rather; anyhow, once they are gone, I will unleash my weapon, powered by the Siren's Gem!" Jiao-long chuckled darkly. "And then, I will take China, burn her, and recreate her in my image!" Jiao-long laughed maniacally, until he realized the artist and gorilla guard were still there. "What are you waiting for? Go be ready for the attack!" The gorilla guard nodded and ran off. "Girl! Can you paint me holding my sword and thrusting it through Chao's heart?"

"I can try." The bunny artist replied. She held up her brush and began to paint.

_Everything is falling into place. _Jiao-long thought darkly.


	6. Oneshot: Chao's Student

**Chao's Student**

Chao never really understood Oogway and his mysterious commands. But he didn't question them. That's why he was wandering the woods that night, looking for the cabin Oogway instructed him to find. Oogway had told him that he would finally fulfill the promise he made years ago that night. Chao was confused at first, but remembered something he promised to….her…..

The last time Chao ever loved someone was with her. How deeply in love they were. How happy Chao was when she agreed to marry him. How overjoyed he was to hear that she was pregnant with his child. _His _child; a little girl or boy to carry on his legacy. But, alas, it was all too good to be true. Oogway had a vision that the child, a girl, would posses great powers and would be in danger in their world. So she had to leave. The only woman Chao truly loved had to leave, in order to protect their only child.

Chao remembered that day all too vividly. He remembered how tight he had embraced his wife before she left. He remembered how he had lightly kissed her forehead before she disappeared to a different world, still carrying their daughter.

Ah, there it is. Chao had arrived at the cabin. He snuck in without making a single noise. He looked around at the tiny cabin. There wasn't much. A table, a small kitchen area, a fireplace, a bed…..with a human on it…..

Chao stared. Humans did not exist. They were myths. Yet, here one was, sleeping on the bed. Chao walked up quietly, but stopped when the human child, a girl in fact, started to wake up. The girl sat up and stretched, obviously just had a good night's sleep. Chao walked up slowly. He didn't want to startle the poor thing.

He didn't even touch her; he just said, "Hello."

The girl whipped around to look at him. Chao's eyes widened as the two stared at each other.

It couldn't be her. But perhaps it was. She had the same obsidian black hair, same pale skin, same bright green eyes, like her mothers. For the longest time, they just stared at each other. Then, the human girl took out a necklace around her neck: a golden locket. The human kept looking back and forth between the inside of the locket to Chao. Finally, the girl showed Chao the inside of the locket. Chao looked, and he smiled, fighting back tears of joy.

"Come, little one." He said, offering a clawed hand. "I'll take care of you."

The girl smiled a little and took his hand.

Now, Chao understood. He took the little girl back to the Jade Palace with him. She had nothing but her pajamas, a black blanket, and a hand-knit panda bear. Chao asked the girl what her name was, how old she was, and what her life was like before coming here. The girl wouldn't say much. She wouldn't give her name, but she did say that she was 7. Her mommy fell asleep and never woke up; her daddy drank bad-smelling water a lot and slapped her often.

Translation: her mother was dead and her father was an abusive alcoholic.

Chao was deeply saddened by the loss of his wife and infuriated by the other father's treatment, but was happy to have his little girl with him at last. Unfortunately, she still wouldn't say her name. Chao didn't want to call her "girl" or "little one" all the time, so he gave her a temporary name until she would say her real name; Chao called the girl Ren.

Oogway was not at all surprised to see Ren. He had known she was there the whole time. For Chao's part, he was having a hard time being annoyed with his master; he was too busy being happy that his daughter was alive and well. Ren loved being at the Palace, saying it was most wonderful place she's ever been.

And so, Ren began her life with Chao. She was constantly by his side. Whenever Chao trained, she sat down at a safe distance, but as close as she could. She spent the first year sleeping in Chao's room until she was brave enough to sleep on her own. Even then, however, Chao had to go into her room and comfort her when she had nightmares, which were constant in that first month alone. Oogway enjoyed having the girl around. Junjie thought she was absolutely adorable, but Shifu thought she was constantly in danger by being in the Training Hall so often. But, she eventually grew on him. Ren stayed at the Jade Palace with all of them, learning kung fu along the way. Mainly, Chao was her master. But Oogway, Junjie, and even Shifu would teach her when Chao was busy. She had one preference in weaponry: the Bo staff. When Ren turned nine, Oogway gave her a special gift. A staff of her own, pure black with a dragon circling it.

Time passed. Ren continued her training. Soon, Master Chao and Master Junjie left the Jade Palace to become members of the Sacred Onyx Council. Chao was determined to keep Ren with them, and she came along. Ren hadn't stepped one foot out of the Valley of Peace, and she was ecstatic to travel to a new place. The three of them traveled to the city of Ziben, where the Sacred Onyx Council resided. The members lived in apartments near the main building where they had meetings and trained. Sadly, Ren was not allowed to come into the main building, and had to stay in the apartments. Chao was initially worried; the other masters that had families lived in the city, so Ren would have to stay in the apartment alone. Ren was strong; she assured her father that she would be fine.

"You're sure you'll be alright?" Chao asked worriedly before leaving.

"I'll be fine, Master Chao." Ren said, bowing in respect to her teacher. "I can take care of myself and I'll be right here when you get home."

"Very well." Chao nodded. "I just don't want anything to happen. Don't leave the apartment without me or Junjie. Don't do anything dangerous. Don't-"

Ren hugged her father. "Baba, go to work. I'll be fine." Ren only called Chao "Baba" when he went ranting on like that. Chao returned the hug and walked off with Junjie. Ren walked in to go on with her daily routine: clean the house, eat lunch, train, clean before Chao gets home. The time in between she spent staring into her locket or reading.

Ren and Chao's relationship changed since they came to Ziben. Chao became the hierarch of the council. Although he was honored, he thought of all the people who might hurt Ren to threaten or blackmail him. Ren wasn't concerned. She was comfortable calling Chao "Master" most of the time. They had their times when they could be "father and daughter" and not just "master and student". But Ren sometimes thought about how much more fatherly Chao was when she was younger. Ren was forced to grow up fast so that she could take care of and protect herself.

One day, Chao informed her that he was going on a journey to the Valley of Peace.

"Can I come?" Ren pleaded.

"I don't know, can you?" Chao replied with a smirk.

Ren rolled her eyes. "_May _I come?"

"Not this time." Chao shook his head. "Junjie and I are only going to evaluate Shifu's skills on being Master of the Jade Palace. It's awfully boring."

"I think you're just saying that because you don't want me to come." Ren said, raising an eyebrow.

Chao sighed. "Ren, there's no reason for you to come."

"There's no reason for me to _not _come either!" Ren protested.

"Ren, silence yourself!" Chao raised his voice a little. Ren shut her mouth and her eyes went to the floor. Chao put a claw to her chin and raised her head to look in her eyes. "Look, it'll be a long journey. I'll be back in three days. And when I get back, how about you and I go see that dancing group you like? Just the two of us."

Ren brightened up. "Really?" Chao nodded, smiling. The two of them hugged.

"I'll be back soon, promise." Chao said. Ren sighed and stepped back, bowing.

"Yes, Master Chao." She said. Chao nodded and walked out. Ren ran to the window and watched him and Master Junjie leave until they couldn't be seen. Ren hated it when Chao went on missions because she always feared he wouldn't come back alive. She had to remind herself time and time again that he was a great Shaolin master; to Ren, Chao could do anything.

Still, those next three days were hard. She didn't wake up to greet her master that morning. She barely managed to catch herself making too much food for breakfast. When she ran to the door to wait for Chao, she skidded to a halt when she remembered he wouldn't be coming home. Most of all, she realized, he wouldn't be coming to her room to kiss her forehead goodnight. It was the one time he really showed fatherly love towards her and not be afraid to. Ren was thirteen at the time. But she spent so much time with Chao that it pained her to see him leave for so long. She couldn't focus on her training and mediating gave her no peace of mind; so she spent most of her time at the window of the apartment, staring into the distance and scanning the city, waiting for Chao to return.

On the third day, Ren didn't bother doing anything except sit by the window and eat a little. She continued to stare and search. Chao would be home soon. She waited patiently, a smile on her face. But, as the day dragged on, and Master Chao hadn't returned yet, Ren became worried. When he didn't return that night, she fell asleep and went back to her waiting spot the next morning. The day went on slowly, and Chao was nowhere to be seen. Ren kept thinking he was attacked or something. Maybe the evaluation was taking longer than he thought. Maybe he was…

No. Ren shook her head from those thoughts. Master Chao is _not _dead. He's one of the greatest masters in China. He was the Hierarch of the Sacred Onyx Council. He was trained by Master Oogway himself. Chao couldn't be killed.

Still, Ren was getting frantic. She took her blanket, which she had made into a hooded cloak, and wrapped it tightly around her shoulders. She held her panda doll and sat at the window, staring blankly into the city. She wouldn't eat. As the sun started to set and Chao was still not to be seen, Ren started to cry. Silent tears streamed down her cheeks. She fell asleep on the chair, still waiting.

When Ren woke up, she was in her room. There was a little smoke in the air and someone was shouting frantically. Ren bolted upright and ran into the kitchen. Chao was at the stove, trying to douse the flames that were coming from the wok. Ren dashed forward and slammed into Chao, wrapping her arms around him. Chao was surprised, but returned the embrace.

"Sorry I'm late." Chao apologized. "The journey home took longer than expected." He noticed Ren was crying into his chest. "What's wrong?"

"Don't leave me." Ren whimpered. "Don't leave me like Mommy did."

Chao's eyes widened. Ren hadn't said a word about her mother in years. And now, she said it with such innocence and insecurity, that Chao held her tighter, in hopes of soothing her pain. "I'm not going anywhere, I promise you that. I know you were scared. I'm sorry. But you need to realize this is how things are. I'll have to leave sometimes. But I'll always come back. I promise you that. Alright?"

Ren wiped her eyes. "Ok…."

They never did see Ren's favorite dancing group. They didn't need to. Chao told Ren about how Shifu had, sadly, failed his evaluation when one of his students, the Dragon Warrior, performed badly on the presentation of the Seven Forms. Junjie had taken over as Master of the Jade Palace, and Chao was to go back in a couple months to check on his progress. Chao promised Ren that she could tag along this time.

About two weeks passed. Ren woke up one night, gasping and sweating. Her eyes were wide and she panted. She leaped out of bed and banged on Chao's bedroom door. "Baba! Baba, wake up!"

The door opened, revealing Chao's tired face. He yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Ren, what is it?"

"I had a dream!" Ren said in a rush. "It was awful! Shifu was in trouble and I….I…."

"Ren, take a deep breath and slow down." Chao instructed.

Ren did so. "I had a dream. Shifu was in chains in some prison. I think he was in danger. I heard someone say they were going to destroy him!"

"Destroy him?" Chao repeated.

"I think he was in the Jade Palace." Ren continued. "You've gotta go back and tell Junjie! We've got to find him!"

"Alright, calm down." Chao coaxed. "We'll leave tomorrow morning. But I don't think it's anything important; I'm sure he'll be fine. Shifu's a great warrior." Ren nodded, but she was still shaken.

The next morning, the two left. Ren had her Bo staff with her and her cloak on. She kept fingering with the fabric, like she was nervous. Ren and Chao arrived at the Valley of Peace the next morning. They reached the bottom of the Jade Palace steps an hour later. Chao stared up at the palace.

"Ren, stay here." He ordered. "If your vision is true, and Shifu _is _in danger, then I don't want both of us to be captured. If I'm not back by sundown, come find me."

"Are you sure?" Ren asked uncertainly.

"I'll be fine." Chao assured. "Just stay here." He started walking up the steps. Truthfully, he wished that Ren would go with him. He had an ominous feeling that Ren's dream was a vision, and Shifu really was in trouble. Where did Junjie stand in all this, anyhow? Chao frowned and kept walking. He and Junjie would have to have a long talk. He reached the top of the stairs and walked up to the Hall of Warriors. The door was open a little and he peered in. He saw the panda, Po, sneaking around. But what really caught his attention was the large tapestry over the Moon Pool, depicting Junjie beating down Shifu. Chao growled low and snuck into the hall. He hid behind a pillar when Junjie appeared. He listened to his conversation with Po.

"I know you've got Shifu here and I'm here to bust him out!" Po snapped.

Junjie seemed unfazed. "Admirable. Since you unwittingly helped me trick Chao into giving me the Jade Palace. Not that it's hard to trick that doddering old fool."

That did it. Chao banged on his gong. Junjie and Po turned to him, surprised.

"Master Chao!" Po cried.

"The 'doddering old fool' has come to check on your progress, Junjie." Chao said, narrowing his eyes.

"Luckily, I prepared for that." Junjie smirked.

Chao heard the arrow being fired and easily raised two claws to catch it before it could pierce his neck. _Too easy. _He thought. Suddenly, he felt multiple arrows stab him in the back. He gasped and fell to the ground. He could feel the sedative in the arrows taking over.

"No!" he heard the panda yell. Someone lifted his head. "Master Chao!" Chao barely managed to open his eyes and see the panda's concerned face before blacking out.

Chao woke up who knows how long later. He shook his head and groaned. But when he tried to raise his hands to his head, he found his hands in metal boxes chained to the wall. The panda was unconscious in front of him, his ankle shackled to the floor.

"Glad to see you awake."

Chao jumped and turned to see Shifu sitting next to him. His hands were also in those metal boxes, suspended above his head. He sat cross-legged with a glare in his eyes. Chao sighed.

"Ren was right." He muttered.

"What?" Shifu asked.

"Ren had a dream, a vision that you were in trouble." Chao explained. "That the only reason I came back so early. But Junjie caught me off guard. I should've attacked him when I had the chance."

"It's alright." Shifu assured. "I had the chance to defeat him, but I failed."

"I'm sure it wasn't your fault." Chao said. "I put him in this position."

"Now is not the time for blaming." Shifu reminded him. "Now, we need to figure a way out. So far, I haven't come up with a good idea. Junjie will want to fight me soon. If I survive, maybe I can get you and Po out of here."

"Junjie won't destroy you." Chao assured. "Ren joined me when coming here. I'm sure she'll come soon and we'll all be out of here." Shifu nodded, praying he was right.

Ren sat on a rock nearby in a lotus position, meditating. She hoped Chao was right, and everything would be fine. Maybe she overreacted. But it seemed so real, and she truly felt that Shifu was in trouble. Ren truly cared about Shifu and Junjie. They were pretty much her only friends when she lived at the Jade Palace. She also missed Oogway, whom she looked to like a grandfather.

Ren tried to clear her thoughts, but she couldn't shake that bad feeling she had about Shifu and Chao. Was Shifu alright, or was he hurt? Should she look for him? No, Chao told her to stay there. But where was Chao? How long had he been gone? A few minutes? A few hours?

Ren sighed. "I've so gotta get out more." Chao could take care of himself. Ren glanced up at the Jade Palace, then at the sky. The sun had steadily been moving. Chao really had been gone for a while. Finally, Ren couldn't take it anymore. She began her ascent up the stairs. It took a while, but she pushed exhaustion from her mind. She reached the top of the steps and journeyed to the Hall of Warriors. Outside the door, there was a strange snow leopard.

"Who are you?" he snapped.

"I'd ask you the same thing." Ren retorted. "What are you doing here?"

"Answer my question or perish!" the snow leopard snapped again, taking a stance. Ren glared and held her staff ready. The snow leopard charged forward, but Ren sidestepped and whacked her staff against his head. The cat growled and lunged. Ren spun around and kicked the leopard in the stomach, sending him flying into a pillar. Two more leopards appeared, standing ready to fight. Ren twirled her staff. The leopards all attacked at once. Ren spun her staff around and whacked each cat on the head or stomach. One grabbed her, and she stomped on his foot. Another swiped his claws at her, but she ducked and jabbed her knuckles into his throat. The third swung his foot around; Ren caught it and slammed her elbow into his knee. Then, one kicked her back and she went flying into a pillar. The cats surrounded her.

Before another attack could be attempted, someone shouted, "Enough!" The four of them turned, and the three leopards bowed. Ren saw Junjie standing in front of them.

"Master Junjie!" Ren called. She ran up excitedly to him. "I hear you are the new master! Congratulations!"

"Thank you, Miss Ren." Junjie smiled. "What brings you to the Jade Palace anyhow? Not just to see me?"

Ren laughed. "Actually, Master Chao and I journeyed here because of a vision I had." She explained to Junjie about her dream and how Chao had come to investigate. She asked Junjie if he had seen Chao.

"I'm afraid not." Junjie shook his head. "Perhaps he's wandering around the palace. But I haven't seen Shifu since he was banished two weeks ago."

"Oh." Ren hung her head. "Ok. I was hoping I'd find him. He's been gone a while now."

"I'm sure he'll show up." Junjie assured. "Where were you supposed to meet him?"

"At the bottom of the steps." Ren answered.

"Then go back down there." Junjie said. "I'm sure he'll be back soon." Ren nodded, bowed, and began going down the steps. But she stopped and turned back to Junjie. "If you see him, tell him to hurry back, if he could."

Junjie raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"

"No." Ren shook her head. "I just…..want him to come back safe and sound. I've never told anyone this, but Chao is the only family I have. There really is no one else I have but him." Ren fingered her locket underneath her shirt. "I don't want to lose him." Junjie stared for a moment, but smiled. Ren bowed and walked back to her rock. She sat and meditated once more. It wasn't until sunset that something made her jump from her mediation: a scream and a crash.

Ren stood on her rock, ready to fight, until she saw Junjie and five snow leopards tied up and in a heap at her feet. "Master Junjie?" She jumped down to help him, but a voice shouted, "Ren, don't!" She turned and saw Chao walking down to her. "Junjie and his creepy leopards are going to Chorh Gom Prison."

"Really?" Ren said incredulously.

"For trying to overthrow Shifu and for imprisoning me." Chao said. Ren glared down at Junjie. "I could use your help." Chao instructed Ren to rest her Bo on her shoulder and hung Junjie off the other end. Then, he helped load the leopards onto a cart that would take them to Chorh Gom.

"Not taking any risks, are we?" Junjie mocked. Ren swung the staff around and hit Junjie against a rock. "Ow!"

"Sorry!" Ren smirked. She laughed as she followed Chao. The two of them walked side-by-side as they journeyed to the mountains. Chao told Ren about what had happened when he arrived. Ren sadly confessed that she had come looking for him, but listened to Junjie when he told her to go back and wait.

Ren looked away from Chao. "I have to confess two more things, now." Chao tilted his head. "One, I knew about Junjie's leopards. I saw him talking to them and recruiting them. I didn't know he would do something like this."

"Neither of us did." Chao assured. "It's nothing to blame you for." Ren smiled a little. "Now, what's that other confession?"

Ren's smile was gone again. "My name. The one mom gave me."

Chao's eyes widened.

"I had gotten so used to you calling me Ren." Ren explained. "It was so similar to my real name. When we first met, I wasn't completely sure I could trust you. I meant to tell you, but the time slipped away." Ren took a deep breath. "Now, I know that mom married the right guy." Chao smiled and put a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"What did your mother name you?" Chao asked.

"Siren." The human girl said. "For my singing voice. Siren Jin."

"Siren Jin." Chao nodded. "It's perfect."

Ren/Siren Jin smiled once more, showing her brilliant white teeth. Chao hugged her.

Had they been looking, they would've notice Junjie's eyes widen.


	7. Chapter Five: The Attack and the Mistake

**Chapter Five- The Attack and the Mistake**

Ling stared out at the walls, where guards were patrolling. Lily was right next to her.

"The place is too heavily guarded." Ling said. "We need a distraction for us to sneak past." Lily looked around for a bit. She picked up a rock at her feet. She held it for a moment before throwing it with all her strength. The stone flew through the air and hit a guard's head. He fell off the wall and hit the ground. Guards around him started shouting.

"Let's move!" Lily ordered. She and Ling darted forward with Shifu, Chao, and Song right behind them. The three cats and lizard master used their claws to scale the wall. Shifu rode on Ling's back. They made it over the wall without being seen and concealed themselves in the darkness. Using the shadows to their advantage, they managed to get inside the castle and avoid the guards.

"Nice thinking." Song said. "We're in. Now what?"

"Ling, Lily, wait about fifteen minutes before you let the army in." Shifu replied. "Song, come with me and Chao. We're going to find Jiao-long." The twins nodded. Shifu ran off down the hallway, Chao and Song right behind him.

"Where would Jiao-long be, anyhow?" Song asked. They stopped for a moment and Chao pulled out a map.

"Lily and Ling told us he would most likely be in the throne room or in his study." Chao said, circling said areas on the map. "If he's not there, then we have to search every room until we get lucky."

"Some plan." Song muttered.

"Just be prepared to fight." Shifu said. They kept going, following the map. They reached the throne room first, but not a soul could be found. So they kept going to the study. They were halfway there when Song stopped short.

"We must keep moving." Chao urged. "What's wrong?"

"Don't either of you feel it?" Song asked. "Like this is too easy? Shouldn't there be guards wandering around? Ling and Lily haven't let the army in yet."

"You have a point, Song." Shifu agreed. "This is all the more reason why we should hurry!" Song muttered something about a trap, but followed the elder masters.

Meanwhile, Lily and Ling waited inside the doors, counting down the minutes until they would move to phase two.

"This is too easy." Lily said. "Either Jiao-long is terrible at organizing his guards, or he knows we're here."

"Maybe we should release the army early." Ling suggested.

"No." Lily shook her head. "We need the element of surprise on our side." Ling nodded, but something caught her eye. She craned her neck to see out a nearby window and saw a tall tower with a single window. A light was shining through; if Ling listened hard enough, she could hear singing.

"You hear that?" Ling asked her twin.

"I'm glad it's not just me." Lily said. They stared out the window.

"That must be the Siren's Gem!" Ling exclaimed. "Sirens are known for their singing! Maybe the Gem plays music to lure people in!"

"I hope Shifu, Chao, and Song are doing alright." Lily said. "We've got a few minutes to spare before we let in the army."

Chao got to the door of the study first, motioning for Shifu and Song to be silent as they approached. They waited outside the door, listening. But there were no sounds coming from the other side of the wood.

"You think it's soundproof?" Song whispered.

"Highly doubt it." Chao whispered back. He pushed open the door with ease. "I don't see anyone."

"Let's get inside." Shifu pushed past him. "Let's see the extent of Jiao-long's plans." Song and Chao followed Shifu, closing the door behind them. Song searched around the room for any signs of Jiao-long hiding somewhere while Chao and Shifu searched the desk.

"There really isn't anyone in here." Song concluded, a confused look in her eyes.

"Nothing of importance in the desk." Shifu said. "Except another copy of the translated prophecy." He stared at said paper with an eyebrow raised. "But it still doesn't make any sense."

"Something's wrong." Chao murmured. He glanced around the room. "You're sure there's no one in here?"

"I've searched every nook and cranny." Song said. "I didn't see anything."

Shifu looked around as well. His eyes caught sight of a painting over the fireplace. It showed Jiao-long with a sword, thrusting it through Chao's chest. The inaccurate picture made Chao look utterly pitiful. In anger, Shifu took a dagger left on the desk and threw it at the painting. The blade imbedded itself into Jiao-long's face, sticking out like a unicorn's horn.

"Nice shot." Chao mused. Shifu didn't answer; his eyes traveled down the mantle. On a stand on the mantle was a beautiful sword. The double-edged blade was pure silver and glittered in the light. The hilt was golden and bejeweled. Chao noticed it too, and his eyes narrowed. "That's Jiao-long's sword."

Shifu nodded and picked up a paperweight shaped like a pagoda. He weighed it in his hand for a moment before chucking it at one of the two statues that flanked the fireplace. Before it could collide, the statue it was aimed at shot up a hand, catching the mini pagoda. Song, Chao, and Shifu stood ready and Jiao-long stepped down from where he stood, dropping the pagoda and taking up his sword.

"Very clever." Jiao-long mused. "I underestimated your wisdom, Grandmaster." He bowed mockingly.

"Stand down." Shifu ordered. "And we'll spare your life."

Jiao-long laughed out loud. "Oh, you're cute." When he saw the three warriors' determined faces, he frowned. "You idiots! I anticipated your attack! I knew you would come and I am ready! You can't possibly win!" Suddenly, there were shouts from outside. Jiao-long rushed to the window and looked out. He saw an unusual group of warriors: water buffalos, rhinos, clouded leopards with parasols, crocodiles, a panda, monkey, tiger, snake, crane, and a blue creature with an oversized fist. All were fighting his soldiers in the courtyard.

"I see you've met our army." Song mocked.

Jiao-long hissed and jumped towards them, sword held ready. Song swung her parasol around and knocked him aside, but he was back on his feet in seconds. Jiao-long swung his sword around at Chao and kicked Song into a wall. Chao leaned back to avoid the blade and Shifu jumped up to kick Jiao-long in the face. The Komodo dragon hissed again, a fire in his eyes. He stabbed his sword forward, but Chao easily knocked it aside.

Down in the courtyard, Po found himself back-to-back with Fung. "How ya doin'?" Po asked as he punched back a gorilla.

"Are you kidding?" Fung exclaimed, whipping his tail across another ape's face. "I could keep this up forever!"

"Good!" Po smiled. "Shifu and Chao are probably wiping the floor with Jiao-long's face!"

Now, that was only half true. Jiao-long was a strong fighter. He wasn't one to give up so easily. Even so, Shifu was able to knock his sword from his hands and Chao sent it skidding across the floor. Song shot miniature parasol darts from her own parasol to pin Jiao-long to an easy chair by his robes.

"So _this _is the Jiao-long we're supposed to be afraid of?" Song laughed. "Pathetic."

"Let's get outside and help the others." Shifu said, heading for the door. "We'll come back for him later." Chao and Song followed Shifu, but the three of them stopped when they reached the door. What had stopped them was Jiao-long's low laugh.

"You really think you've won?" he asked in a low voice. He wrenched an arm forward, then the other, pulling loose the parasol darts. He jerked himself free and brushed himself off. Then, without warning, Jiao-long shot his palms forward, sending a blast of red chi in the group's direction. They were blown backwards, clean through the door, and a ways down the hallway. The blast was like fire, singeing their clothes and fur. Chao was the first to recover from the blast. He blinked a couple times, staring at Shifu and Song, who were struggling to stand. His vision was slightly hazy, and he was hardly aware of a clawed hand grabbing his neck and pinning him to the wall. When his vision cleared, Chao found himself glaring hard into Jiao-long's face.

The Komodo dragon smirked, holding his recovered sword ready. "This is just the beginning."

Shifu's foot collided with Jiao-long's shoulder, driving them both farther down the hall. Shifu's ears lay flat on his head and the fur on his neck bristled in fury. He pronounced each word in his next sentence venomously. "Don't…..touch….him….or anyone, for that matter."

Jiao-long laughed again. "You're pathetic to no end. _I _am the one with the plan, and _I _will emerge from here successful. Everyone who has fought with you today will die in vain."

Song snarled menacingly. "Your voice….is like a knife….to my brain….you stupid bag of scales!" She and Chao stood, poised ready to fight. Jiao-long stood as well, unmoving except for his tail swishing back and forth. He went down on all fours and darted forward…rushing past the warriors and leaping out the window. The three warriors ran to the window and stared. Jiao-long fell down and did a flip, landing on top of something big and wooden. Jiao-long entered the machine and it started moving.

"We have to get to the courtyard!" Shifu shouted as he ran down the hall. Chao and Song sprinted after him. They reached the courtyard with ease (checking the map only twice) and burst through the doors. The army was still fighting with Jiao-long's men. But now, Jiao-long had come out with his machine. It was just like Taotie's machine, but with a lot more dangerous weaponry. With Jiao-long at the controls, ringed blades were shot, flames shot out, large rocks thrown, and so much more. Jiao-long's men scattered and so did Shifu and Chao's army, desperately trying to avoid the brutal attacks.

"What do we do?" Song asked.

"Retreat." Shifu said solemnly. He didn't look very happy about it. "We can't fight this thing now. But now that we know what we're up against, we can regroup and plan for our next attack."

"Master Shifu, with all due respect, I think we can handle this." Song protested.

"I'm not willing to risk it!" Shifu snapped. "Song, gather everyone together. Chao, get them all out. I'll distract Jiao-long."

"I'm coming with you." Chao said. Shifu opened his mouth to speak, but Chao cut him off. "Don't even think about protesting. Song, get everyone out the doors." The clouded leopard nodded and ran out into the chaos, spreading the order of retreat to all of the army members. Shifu and Chao headed towards Jiao-long's machine. The Komodo dragon spotted them and, as expected, immediately turned his aim towards the two masters. They acted fast, dodging whatever Jiao-long threw at them. Song, meanwhile, managed to herd everyone together and get them towards the main gate. When Jiao-long saw this, he snarled.

"Stop them!" he shouted. "Close the gate!" The doors to the gate slowly started to close.

"Not a chance!" Po shouted. "Hey Demon! Blast those doors open!" The Mongolian Fist Demon ran forward and, with a roar, smashed his flamed fist into the doors. The wooden doors burst into pieces. The army burst forward, running through the gate and into the woods.

"Archers!" Jiao-long yelled. Gorillas on top of the wall shot a volley of arrows down onto the retreating army. The Ladies of the Shade held up their parasols to block them. Shifu and Chao bolted to the door, but Jiao-long wouldn't hear of it. "Close the iron gate! Stop them! _Kill them!_" What was left of Jiao-long's army came forward to crush the masters. Chao dodged a hammer being swung by an elephant and leaped over him. Shifu flipped a gorilla over his head and threw him into two elephants coming his way. The two of them ran as fast as they could as the iron gates started to close. But Shifu knew that, no matter how fast they ran, only one of them would make it through that gate.

As they got closer, Shifu suddenly grabbed Chao's hand and stopped running. He used the momentum to hurl Chao at the gate with alarming speed. Chao bounced and rolled right under the spikes of the gate as it slammed shut. Shifu ran up and banged his shoulder against the gate. It wouldn't move.

"Chao, run." Shifu ordered. "You still have the map and you know our battle plans by heart. It's your turn to lead. Alone."

"I'm not leaving you here to be killed!" Chao said firmly.

"That wasn't a suggestion!" Shifu snapped. "That was an order! Now go!" His eyes darted towards the coming army before going back to Chao. "I'll be fine. I promise. Now run."

Chao stared at Shifu for a long time, not wanting to leave. But he reluctantly accepted the fact that, if he didn't run, the army would be left without a leader. So Chao turned and ran, dodging arrows from the archers.

Shifu stood ready to fight, but Jiao-long's army only surrounded him. Jiao-long walked through his men, looking amused.

"Well done." Jiao-long nodded. "Your sacrifice was very noble; surrendering yourself in exchange for Chao's escape."

"Whoever said I was surrendering?" Shifu demanded, standing ready. "I won't die here until I see you obliterated."

Jiao-long sighed. "I was afraid of this. However, I am a merciful master. So I will give you two choices. You can either surrender now, become my prisoner, and be executed in the most painless way I can think of, or you can stand your ground and be killed right now and die in excruciating pain. What will it be?" Shifu didn't move an inch. He glared hard at Jiao-long. "I see. Well, that's a pity. Oh well. It'll be a pleasure to hear you scream." Jiao-long stepped back and climbed into his machine once more for a better view of the slaughter. "Kill him." He ordered. A group of archers stood in front, arrows trained on Shifu. Still, the old master wouldn't move. If he died tonight, he died fighting.

The archers fired.

Shifu braced himself, but his vision was clouded with black. At first, he thought he was dead. But he realized that he could hear Jiao-long's men gasping with shock. He looked up and saw a pair of wings around him, shielding him from the arrows. Four of the feathers on each wing were sharp as swords.

_Sharp feathers….._


	8. Chapter Six: Surprise!

**Chapter Six- Surprise!**

Chao kept running and didn't stop until he reached the camp. The rest of the army was there, treating their wounds. Tigress spotted him first. "Master Chao!" she called. Everyone looked towards the lizard master, stood, and bowed. Chao slowed as he approached them, wearily walking through as the group parted ways for him. The Five and Po stood at the end. Of all the concerned faces, theirs stood out the most, especially Po's.

"Master Chao?" Viper piped up. "Are you hurt?"

Chao shook his head slowly. "I am fine."

"Where's Shifu?" Monkey asked worriedly. At this, Chao looked away. He refused to look into anyone's eyes as he walked to his tent, his tail dragging in the dirt.

"Chao." Po's voice was strong, but filled with fear. "What happened to Master Shifu?"

Chao stopped at the entrance of his tent. He wouldn't turn to them. "He pushed me through the gate before it could close. But he was trapped inside."

Silence.

Not a single soul said a word. Everyone just stared at Chao as the lizard master sank to his knees.

"He's still in there?" Po repeated softly. "Alone?"

"How is he supposed to survive?" Song asked. "Jiao-long will kill him for sure!"

"Then we should go back!" Tigress said. "We can help him!"

"Tigress, let's face it." Crane protested. "By the time we get there, it may be too late. He could be in prison, or-"

"He's not dead!" Tigress screamed. Everyone recoiled, and Chao turned and stared. "He. Is. _Not._ Dead." Tigress snarled. "Shifu's stronger than that! He can take Jiao-long any day and win! But we have to go help him fight Jiao-long's men!"

"Tigress-" Mantis tried to say.

"I won't lose him again!" Tigress yelled. "If you won't come with me, I'll go fight Jiao-long alone and tear him limb from limb!"

"Master Tigress, be still!"

Tigress turned to Chao, who was walking up to her. He was one who had snapped at her. Looking at him now, Tigress could see a fire being rekindled in his eyes.

"You aren't going anywhere." Chao said. "Not alone, at least." He turned to the rest of the warriors present. "We won't waste any time thinking about Shifu's odds of survival. We _will _think about how we will make Jiao-long pay." Everyone listened closely, their interests sparked. "I will go through the plans. We will attack again very soon. If Shifu is alive, we'll bring him back. If not," Chao paused, a pained look in his eyes. But he regained his composure and glared determinedly. "If Jiao-long has truly killed Shifu, then we will make sure that our fallen is avenged!" The army cheered. Though they still mourned for this supposed loss, a single thought ran through their minds:

Jiao-long's going down.

_STAR STAR STAR STAR STAR_

The wings parted, and Shifu looked up at a familiar owl.

"Fenghuang!" Shifu snapped. The owl jumped in front of Shifu. She spun around fast and shot a wing out, launching the Thundering Wind Hammer at a couple elephants.

"Good to see you, too." Fenghuang smirked. She turned and started shouting orders. "Su! Go in with your parasol! Scorpion, cover her! Taotie, secure the master and help me take out Jiao-long's machine!" Fenghuang flew off, leaving Shifu to stare at what was happening. He saw Scorpion and Su, the former leader of the Ladies of the Shade, fighting with Jiao-long's army. He got up to help, but he was suddenly lifted off his feet when something grabbed his belt and hoisted him into the air. He was dropped onto something hard and wooden. Looking around, Shifu found himself on another one of Taotie's machines. At the controls was the warthog himself and his son.

"What are you doing here?" Shifu demanded, getting to his feet.

"Oh relax." Taotie waved his hand, not taking his eyes off the battle. "We're actually on your side this time."

"Why should I trust you?" Shifu growled. "You almost killed me twice!"

"And we saved your life this time." Taotie explained. "Take that you stupid apes!" He blasted fire in said apes' direction. "Just sit down and we'll take you back to camp once we're done here."

"I don't trust you." Shifu said. He took a stance, ready to fight.

Taotie sighed. "I knew this would happen. Bian Zao, will you please restrain him?"

Bian Zao turned in his chair. "Sorry about this." He said sincerely. He pulled a lever and the floor disappeared from under Shifu. He fell down into a cage at the bottom of the chute. The door closed before he could stand.

"Taotie!" Shifu shouted. "When I get my hands on you, you're going to wish we never met!"

"Sorry!" Taotie shouted down. "Can't hear you!" He turned his attention on the battle. He approached Jiao-long's machine, which looked just as deadly as his. "Alright you overgrown bag of scales. Let's see what you've got." He started pulling levers and pushing buttons, sending everything he had towards Jiao-long's machine. Fenghuang swooped down when it was clear and grabbed at parts, pulling them off. She would go to the ground and unleash her skills with Seven Impossible Moves. Jiao-long found himself fighting to defend his machine against the attacks. Taotie tried sending blast after blast of fire in hopes of burning the wooden machine, but it only scorched the wood. He swung a hammer around and knocked the top of the machine clean off. Jiao-long had to duck to avoid the debris. Fenghuang dived down with a screech and swiped her talons at the Komodo dragon. Jiao-long hissed and swung his sword, narrowly missing Fenghuang.

"We need to blow it up!" Fenghuang called as she circled back around and landed on Taotie's machine. "Can you distract him?"

"Leave it to me!" Taotie nodded.

Fenghuang looked around the machine. "Where's Shifu?"

"Below deck." Taotie said, tapping the floor with his foot. Shifu's muffled shouts and banging came from the floorboards. Fenghuang rolled her eyes. She flew up as Taotie moved forward, shooting arrows and shurikens from his machine. Jiao-long ducked to avoid them and moved in with his attacks. Meanwhile, Fenghuang discretely landed behind Jiao-long's machine. She did a couple moves and created the Mongolian Fireball in her wings.

"Taotie!" she shouted. "Brace yourself!" She launched the fireball at Jiao-long's machine. Taotie and Bian Zao braced themselves and Jiao-long abandoned his machine. The fireball connected with the wood and metal. Instead of sucking things in, like the Mongolian Fireball usually does, it exploded on impact. Wood, metal, flames, and smoke went everywhere. Fenghuang flew up high.

"Fall back!" she ordered. "To me!" She flew off. Taotie turned his machine around to follow. Su and Scorpion followed.

Jiao-long shouted in frustration. "Blast it all!" He breathed hard as he stared at his destroyed machine and his fallen soldiers. He cleared his throat and straightened. "No matter. My plans are unfinished. You there!" The two gorillas he was pointing to stood up straight. "You gather what remains of my men and clean up this mess. You fetch that blasted soothsayer and bring him to my study. Now!" The gorillas rushed to do their orders.

Fenghuang kept flying with Su, Scorpion, Taotie, and Bian Zao right behind her. They kept going until they reached the other side of the mountain, at the base. Fenghuang landed and led the group on foot to a small campsite. Suddenly, a rhino came running up to them. He stood as mighty as he could.

"Who goes there?" He shouted. "None shall pass except friends! If you are enemies I shall rip you open with my horn and gouge you as I rip you apart and-"

"Hundun, it's us." Fenghuang droned. "Stand down."

Hundun recognized them. "Oh. My bad." He went to sit by the fire. "You guys are no fun."

"Why don't you go to sleep?" Su suggested. "You'll need your energy for the attack tomorrow."

"Alright!" Hundun smirked. "That stupid lizard will fall!" He ran to his tent. In a few seconds, he was snoring.

"We aren't attacking tomorrow." Scorpion said.

"I know." Su nodded. "But I wanted him to shut up."

"You're back!"

Fenghuang turned and smiled when she saw a small mouse lemur come out from the main tent. "Good evening, Tong Fo. How are the plans coming along?"

"Very well." Tong Fo said. "Victory shall be ours! How's our little guest?"

"Still trying to break out!" Taotie called from his machine. "Can we release him so he doesn't break my machine?"

"Can't he stay in there a little longer?" Fenghuang asked. Suddenly, she heard cracking wood. "Guess not. Alright, every stand around the exit; we can't have him escape just yet." Su, Scorpion, Fenghuang, Taotie, and Tong Fo stood around where Shifu would come out.

"Alright, Son!" Taotie called up. "Release him!" Bian Zao pulled a lever and a door opened, dropping Shifu unceremoniously on the ground. Shifu groaned, but when he saw who was surrounding him, he jumped to his feet.

"If you don't let me go this instant, so help me-"

"Shifu, calm down and listen." Fenghuang almost pleaded. "We're here to help you."

"Why should I trust you?" Shifu demanded. "You are my enemies."

"But we saved your life." Scorpion pointed out.

"I would've been fine." Shifu protested.

"Oh please!" Taotie huffed. "You would've been dead if it weren't for us."

"Besides, it's not our decision on whether or not you die." Su told him. "If it were up to us, you'd be chucked into a river to drown."

"If it's not your idea, whose is it?" Shifu asked.

"Our generals." Scorpion said. "Fenghuang and-"

"Me."

They turned towards the voice. Shifu would've taken this moment to run, but he was frozen in place. He stared at the person that walked up to him. The person was a fox about his height with orange eyes and a smirk on his face.

"Junjie." The fox introduced. "General of the Rebel Army."


	9. Ch 7: Hope, Threats, and Explanations

**Chapter Seven- Hope, Threats, and Explanations**

"Junjie?" Shifu was shocked. The last time he saw Junjie, he was heading to Chorh-Gom. Yet here he was, standing before him as a general of his own army. And all these people who Shifu considered enemies, working together.

"Surprised?" Junjie asked. "So was I, when I realized how well this worked."

Shifu found his voice. "What do you want?"

"To stop Jiao-long." Junjie stated firmly. "Just like you and Chao. Except I've known of Jiao-long's plan for a while now."

"What makes you think I'd believe that?" Shifu scoffed.

"Listen to the reasons, not the person talking." Junjie replied. "And maybe you'll trust us a bit more. We don't want Jiao-long to destroy China because he might destroy us or make us slaves. We saved your life; don't try and protest against it, you would've been dead without us. Instead of killing you ourselves, we are keeping you safe and asking for your help." Junjie stared at Shifu. "Now, do you trust us?"

Shifu had been listening, like Junjie asked. The reasons were valid, but Shifu wasn't completely sure he could trust Junjie. Then again, here were his enemies, not causing him harm and actually asking for his help. He sighed and relaxed from his fighting stance.

"If you try anything, I'll tear you in half." Shifu threatened.

Junjie seemed satisfied nonetheless. He turned to the group. "All of you get to sleep. We'll be discussing our plans for tomorrow." The members of the group nodded and walked off to their tents to sleep. Junjie turned back to Shifu. "Why don't you join Fenghuang and me in our tent? We have much to talk about tomorrow." Junjie and Fenghuang walked over to the largest tent. Shifu hesitated and looked out into the woods. He could run now. He could find Chao and warn him about Junjie. But something held him back. Junjie's words were sincere. So were the words of the others. Perhaps they really did need his help. Shifu was torn between the feeling to stay and his loyalty for his own army, who surely thought he was dead.

"You coming?" Fenghuang called from the tent. Shifu turned and nodded, walking over to her. The inside of the main tent was considerably larger than the others, but all that was in there were some hammocks and a low table. Fenghuang flew up to the highest hammock and settled down to sleep. Junjie jumped up and landed softly into the hammock below it.

"Make yourself comfortable." He told Shifu as he pulled a blanket over him. "It's not the best place for a good night's sleep." Shifu looked down at the lowest hammock, which was really just a fish net. He awkwardly climbed in and pulled the blanket over him. But he suddenly sat up straight and felt underneath him. He pulled out a piece of seaweed and groaned. He tossed it aside and buried himself in the blanket.

It was going to be a long night.

Back at the Jade Palace Army base, everyone else was also settling down to sleep. Everyone was still recovering from the news Chao had delivered and it was hard to not think about what had happened to Shifu. Tigress could get no sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she kept seeing Shifu, hurt, dead, or being killed. Finally, she stood and snuck out of the tent, careful not to wake anyone. A snore made her jump, but she realized it was only Po and the Mongolian Fist Demon, which had long since shrunk and was sleeping on the panda's stomach.

Tigress walked off to the edge of the camp, settled down into a lotus position, and closed her eyes, mentally chanting "Inner peace…inner peace….." Chao could see Tigress from where he was. It was clear that she was taking the loss harder than anyone else. Chao remembered how Shifu had adopted Tigress himself. So, in a way, it was like Chao and Siren's relationship.

Chao sighed. He had realized with horror earlier that, if Shifu really was gone, then he couldn't keep his promise to bring Siren home. But he still had her locket. Chao regretted giving him the locket then, but there was nothing that could be done. Still, Chao loved that locket dearly. It was the only thing he had left of his wife and Siren. He did still have Siren's old panda doll, but the locket belonged to his wife. Chao had given Siren the name Ren because it was her mother's name. Ren and Siren were so much alike: strong, wise, caring, and so much more.

Chao looked back at Tigress and walked up behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder. The tiger master looked up wearily to Chao.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" Chao suggested.

"Can't." Tigress replied simply. "I close my eyes and…." She sighed. "How could I let this happen?"

"Don't you dare blame yourself." Chao said sternly. "Anything could've happened. I blame myself, personally. But we can't dwell on that. We need to focus on what to do next."

Tigress nodded. She looked off into the distance. "Master Oogway said that nothing is impossible. Is it possible Shifu really did live?"

Chao shrugged. "Hard to say. Jiao-long is ruthless. But Shifu is smart and strong. I've known him for years; I'm sure he'll think of something."

Tigress smiled a little at this. "I just have a feeling he's alive. But….I don't know. It's complicated."

Chao sat down next to Tigress. "Can you keep a secret?" Tigress turned curiously and nodded. "I understand how you feel. Someone I care for very much disappeared almost a year ago; taken from me. I searched for her for a long time." Chao stared into the star-laden sky. "I haven't given up. I can't. If I do, I won't keep my promise I made to her."

"What was that?" Tigress asked.

Chao looked down at her. "I promised her that, no matter where I go, I'll always return to her." Chao stood and patted Tigress's shoulder. "Keep your chin up." He walked off to his tent. Tigress stared after him until he disappeared and looked up at the stars. Somehow, they seemed a little brighter. Tigress smiled, a newfound hope growing inside. She stood and went back to her tent to sleep peacefully.

_STAR STAR STAR STAR STAR_

The morning after the battle, Jiao-long was found tapping his claws on his desk, pondering the prophecy in front of him. It made about as much sense as pickles in a barrel of wombats. Jiao-long groaned and rubbed his head to rid himself of the headache he was getting. A knock from the door jarred him from his thoughts.

"Master!" a guard called from the other side of the door. "We've brought the soothsayer, like you asked!"

"Send him in alone and guard the door!" Jiao-long called back. The door opened and Jien the lynx was thrown inside before it slammed shut again. Jien shook terribly as he stood up. His arms and shoulders were covered in wounds inflicted by a whip. His shirt was torn to show his back, and numerous other lashing wounds. Jiao-long smiled smugly as he stood and walked over to Jien.

"So, how is our guest?" Jiao-long asked mockingly.

"Go to hell." Jien seethed.

Jiao-long almost jumped at the cat's language; since when did a kind old man like Jien say things like that? But Jiao-long shook it off and put a smile on again. "Oh, come now. Is that really a nice way to speak?"

"What do you want?" Jien hissed. "I've given you the prophecy. I have nothing more to say to you."

"I think you do." Jiao-long said. "For example, you can say what this blasted prophecy means."

"You know what it means." Jien said. "You built your army and your machine and you know your plan. What do you need me for?"

Jiao-long walked up to Jien and leaned in close. "There's more to it. Another part of the prophecy, perhaps, or a whole new prophecy that ties in with this one. I want to know what it is; tell me now, or die where you stand."

Without warning, Jien unsheathed his claws and swiped them across Jiao-long's face. The Komodo dragon reared back and screamed in pain, clutching his bleeding face. Jien lunged and tackled Jiao-long. For such an old man, he had incredible strength. He punched and kicked Jiao-long with little sense of any kung fu. Jiao-long finally snapped and kicked Jiao-long hard in the chest. The lynx went flying into the easy chair, which slammed into the wall. Jiao-long ran up and thrust his fist into Jien's stomach. Jien coughed up blood. Jiao-long grabbed Jien by the throat and hoisted him to eye-level.

"You will dearly regret that." Jiao-long hissed. Jien, though weak, snarled menacingly. Jiao-long threw Jien to the ground and called for the guard. A gorilla squeezed through the door, and elephant standing outside the door. "Take the soothsayer to the death chamber. He is to be held on Death Row until his execution this afternoon at dusk." The gorilla nodded and pulled Jien to the door by his shirt. At the last minute, Jien grabbed the doorway and stared at Jiao-long with his piercing golden eyes.

"Beware, Jiao-long." Jien smirked. "If I were you, I'd surrender now before the masters take you." He let himself be dragged down the hallway.

Jiao-long scoffed. "Senile old cat. Nothing can defeat me. Not with the Siren's Gem in my possession."

_STAR STAR STAR STAR STAR_

"_Junjie!"_

_The fox kit jumped up and kicked his opponent in the face. He frantically searched for his friend._

"_Junjie!"_

_There! Over the cliff edge! Junjie ran to the edge and got to his knees, staring down the cliff edge. The young kit saw his friend, a young red panda cub, clinging to the rock side. _

"_Junjie!" the cub called. "Please help!"_

"_I'm coming!" Junjie yelped. "Hold on, Shifu!" Junjie reached his hand down as far as he could without falling, but he couldn't reach. Shifu tried to climb up and reached as far as he could to grab Junjie's outstretched paw. But they only got as far brushing their fingertips._

"_Shifu, jump!" Junjie ordered. "Jump and I'll catch you!" Shifu nodded and shifted his weight a little. He crouched as far as he could on the tiny ledge and jumped. Junjie reached out to grab his friend's hand. _

_Suddenly, Junjie felt something grab his leg and pull him back. He caught himself, but when he pulled back to the edge of the cliff, he could only stare in horror as Shifu started falling. The cub screamed as he rapidly fell to the sharp rocks below._

"_No!" Junjie screamed._

"No!" Junjie shouted. He suddenly flipped over in his hammock and landed right on Shifu below him. The two of them flipped over and over in the hammock. When they stopped flipping, the two of them were nose to nose and completely tangled up in the hammock.

Shifu glared at the elderly fox. "Good morning." He grumbled.

Junjie frowned. "Morning. Now get off!"

"You're the one that's on _me_!" Shifu snapped.

"You caused this thing to spin!"

"You fell out of yours and right on top of me!"

"You think I meant to?"

"Well, why did you?"

Junjie stopped and his eyes went to the ground. There was no way he was telling Shifu about his dream. Fenghuang suddenly landed in front of them.

"Having fun?" she asked with a smile.

"Just help us." Junjie muttered. Fenghuang laughed and grabbed the edge of the hammock. She pulled hard, making the hammock flip again until it was untangled and dropped the two masters to the floor. They stood and dusted themselves off.

"Well, seeing how you haven't killed me in the middle of the night, care to explain the plan?" Shifu asked. Junjie nodded and led the two outside. Everyone else was already awake. Hundun and Su were currently having an argument about when they were attacking. Junjie clapped for attention.

"Everyone take a seat!" He ordered. The members of the small army sat down in a semi-circle around their generals. Shifu stood beside Fenghuang.

"So, what's the plan?" Bian Zao asked.

"We attack today, this afternoon." Junjie explained. "Jiao-long will expect us to attack at night, when we think he'll least expect it. This way, we'll really have the element of surprise. We will all attack together. As we are fighting, Fenghuang, Shifu, and I will sneak into the castle and find the Siren's Gem. We steal it, retreat, and figure out how to use it to bring down Jiao-long once and for all. All you need to do is fight as hard as you can. If you feel like you need to retreat, do it. Don't wait for us."

"Any questions?" Fenghuang asked. No one said a word. "Good. We move out this afternoon. Go about your business." The group split up.

Shifu raised an eyebrow. "That's your plan?"

"In a nutshell, yes." Fenghuang nodded.

"Interesting." Shifu mused. "What about the Jade Palace army? What will you do if and when Chao arrives with them?"

"We retreat." Fenghuang answered simply. "Because we don't want to be attacked."

Shifu sighed. "This is going to end badly."

"Shifu." Junjie said. "I need to speak to you about something very important. Fenghuang and I, that is." Shifu looked back and forth between the two. He was surprised to see their genuinely concerned faces. He followed them back into the main tent. Junjie walked over to a bag Shifu hadn't noticed and pulled out a large book. He walked to the table and sat down, placing the book on the wood. Shifu and Fenghuang sat at the table as well. Shifu immediately recognized the book.

"Is that…..."

"Yes." Junjie nodded. "The book about the Tri-Dragon of Death."

Shifu stared and smiled a little. "I haven't seen this since we were kids, when we found it in the library."

Junjie nodded, smiling. He opened the book to the first couple pages. "The Tri-Dragon of Death. The legend that told of three dragons with incredible powers. Together, they were undefeatable. When they died of old age, their spirits would posses mortal children who would grow up to carry on their legacy. And so their spirits continued to do just that for centuries." Junjie flipped through the book until he reached the last half of the book. "The last half of this book tells of each Tri-Dragon of Death group and what they accomplished." Junjie sighed.

Shifu sensed something was wrong. "Junjie, why are you showing me this?"

Junjie looked up with tired eyes. "Shifu, we need you. When we first looked at this book, we read about every single Tri-Dragon of Death in history. Remember when we used to have dreams of being like them?" Shifu nodded. "When I found this book again, I found something new. I always thought, 'If the dragons' spirits still posses people to carry on the legend, how did the author of this book find them all and write about them?' Then I realized this isn't just any book; every time a new Tri-Dragon of Death is chosen, the book magically adds their story on its own." Junjie turned to the very last page of the book and showed it to Shifu. The red panda's eyes widened at the sight of the picture.

It was him and Junjie, side by side and in strong fighting stances. Fenghuang was above them, wings spread. The three of them looked ready for battle.

"This is why we need your help." Fenghuang said.

"Shifu." Junjie sighed. "You, Fenghuang, and I are the next Tri-Dragon of Death."


	10. Oneshot: Memories

**Memories**

Junjie grunted as he hit the wall after being literally thrown into his cell. He growled at Siren and Chao as the rhino guard slammed the door shut.

"Perhaps you'll learn something here." Chao said solemnly. He turned and walked off. Siren turned to Junjie and gave him a look of genuine sympathy.

"I'll bring some good food for you sometime." She whispered.

"Siren, come along!" Chao called.

"Coming!" Siren called back. She ran off. Junjie smiled a little. _She'll never change. She's always been such a kind young girl, just like her mother. _Junjie stood and rubbed his sore arm.

"Evening."

Junjie jumped in the air and landed on the top bunk of the bunk bed. He peeked over the edge and found he wasn't alone. Also in the cell was a strange, golden colored, owl shaped cage. Junjie raised an eyebrow and slowly climbed down, walking towards the cage. He almost touched it when the cage spoke again.

"Don't touch me." It said.

Junjie jumped again. Then, he narrowed his eyes at the opening at the top. A pair of purple eyes looked back at him. "Fenghuang?"

"Of course." Fenghuang snapped. "How many other owls do you know that are trapped in an owl-shaped cage?"

"Oh shut up." Junjie grumbled. "How'd you get in here?"

"I tried to kill Shifu and take over the palace." Fenghuang said. "The panda Po tricked me. What about you?"

"Tried to destroy Shifu and take over the palace." Junjie said. "Po somehow defeated me in battle."

"Wow." Fenghuang's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Aren't we amazing?"

Junjie sighed. He walked to the doors of his cell and stared out. Fenghuang raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?" she asked.

"It was her." Junjie muttered.

"The girl?" Fenghuang asked. "What about her?"

"Didn't you recognize her?" Junjie asked incredulously. "It's Siren!"

Fenghuang's eyes widened. "_The _Siren? Are we sure we're talking about the same girl?"

"Yes." Junjie nodded. "How many Siren's do you know?"

Fenghuang shrugged. "Only one and it's that girl." She sighed. "I can't believe she's back. And she's with Chao?"

"She's Chao's daughter." Junjie said. "I can't believe it!"

"Chao's daughter?" Fenghuang cried. "How on earth-"

"That's not important!" Junjie snapped. "Well, yes it is, but we have more important things to worry about."

"We?"

"Yes, 'we'. Now that we know Siren is here, we know that the prophecy is coming true."

"Prophecy?" Fenghuang repeated. "You mean the one you got from that old lynx?"

"Yes." Junjie nodded. "I knew it wasn't a fake." He started pacing and pondering. "I have to get back to the Jade Palace. Everything I need will be there."

"Yeah, good luck." Fenghuang scoffed.

"You're forgetting who I am." Junjie said. "No prison will hold me. Besides, if I'm correct, then both of us will be benefitted."

"Really?" Fenghuang asked, not convinced.

"Trust me." Junjie nodded. "I know what I'm doing."

Fenghuang sighed. "I hope you're wrong, for once. I've got a bad feeling about all this."

Junjie looked out through the bars of his cell. "So do I."

Junjie stayed in jail for another five days before breaking out with his leopard students. Two days later, Fenghuang heard her cell door open.

"Package for you." The guard said.

"Put it on the bed." Fenghuang ordered. "I'm dying to open it."

"How can you open it in there?" the guard taunted. He laughed as he tossed the package on the bed and walked out, slamming the cell door shut. Fenghuang looked over at the package. From what she could see, it was a medium-sized item covered in paper and tied with a string. Fenghuang could only guess it came from Junjie. Another five days passed before said fox was returned to jail.

"How'd the plan work this time?" Fenghuang teased.

Junjie stood and brushed himself off. "I got closer this time. Maybe my third try will be my winning try. Three times's a charm. You get a package?"

Fenghuang motioned to the bed from inside her cage. "You sent it?"

Junjie nodded as he ran to the bed. He ripped open the package to reveal a bag. He opened the bag and pulled out a large book. He set it on the wooden bed and started flipping through it. He reached the last page and stared at the picture. He reached into the bag again and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He read its contents about three times before setting it down on the book. He paced for a moment, his thoughts racing. He looked down at his right arm and stared hard, as though he were searching for something. He walked back to the book and flipped to the front again. He scanned the first ten pages or so, reading carefully. Fenghuang watched him with interest.

Finally, Junjie sighed. "I knew it."

"What is it?" Fenghuang asked worriedly.

Junjie turned to her. "The prophecy foretold of a Tri-Dragon of Death returning to fight a great evil. Based on what I've found, I believe the prophecy will be coming true very soon."

"The Tri-Dragon of Death?" Fenghuang repeated. "That's just a myth."

Junjie frowned and grabbed the book. He flipped to the back and showed it to Fenghuang. "Is _that _a myth?"

Fenghuang squawked in surprise. "That's us and Shifu!"

"Yes." Junjie tucked the book under his arm. "We are the next Tri-Dragon of Death. And I have a feeling I know who this great evil is. An old enemy of Oogway's named Chang had a son named Jiao-long. Jiao-long is making plans to take China for himself."

"And you know this because?"

"I sent my leopards to find out." Junjie said. "If we don't stop Jiao-long, we'll all be killed or imprisoned."

"Can't Shifu handle it?" Fenghuang pointed out. "I'm sure once he realizes the threat, he'll form an army to fight it."

"Fenghuang, you need to trust me." Junjie pleaded. "Shifu won't be that cooperative. The three of us must battle Jiao-long and stop him when the time comes."

Fenghuang sighed. "I learned a long time ago that you can't fight a prophecy. And if I really am a part of this Tri-Dragon of Death thing, then I'm in. What's the plan?"

"I'll explain tonight." Junjie promised. He packed the book and the prophecy back into his bag and pulled out a scroll. "I have a list of everyone that would be willing to be in our little army. It should be plenty."

Fenghuang nodded. But her eyes showed worry. "Junjie, exactly how big of a deal is this? I've never seen you so serious about something."

Junjie put the scroll away. "Very serious. As in lives will be at stake besides our own." He pulled a hairpin out from his sleeve. "We're busting out of here. Us, and our army members locked up here. We need to start planning now so we're ready." Junjie walked up to Fenghuang's owl-shaped cage and bent the hairpin to pick the lock. It took about ten minutes before a series of clicks rang out. Junjie jumped back as Fenghuang tossed the cage off of her. She stretched her stiff wings.

"That's better." She sighed. "Let's get going before the guards come." Junjie nodded, slung the bag over his back, and started picking the lock to the door. The lock clicked open in a few seconds and Junjie quietly opened the door. Fenghuang followed him and he shut the door. Junjie moved on to a couple cells down and found Scorpion, Su, and Tong Fo in it. In the cell next to theirs was Hundun. He explained the plan to them. When he finished, the three of them had concerned looks on their faces, but weren't entirely convinced.

"How do we know we can trust you?" Tong Fo demanded.

"Yeah, and even if we did believe you, why should we help?" Su added. "What's in it for us?"

"Join my army." Junjie said. "And you can go free."

That sparked their interest. Scorpion walked to the door. "So all we have to do is join your army?"

"And do everything I say." Junjie added. "Fenghuang and I are your masters until we release you. Failure to comply with the conditions mentioned will result in us personally throwing you back in jail." The four prisoners exchanged looks before agreeing. Junjie opened the doors to their cells and freed his leopard students. The group headed for the exit when Junjie stopped them. He looked up at the rhino guards that patrolled the bridges. He motioned for everyone to follow him silently. He led them down to the bridge above them. They hid in various places while Junjie took out a stick of dynamite.

"Where did you get that?" Fenghuang asked.

"Jade Palace." Junjie whispered. "Make some sparks." Fenghuang scraped her talons against the rock until the dynamite lit. Junjie threw it below and braced himself. The dynamite exploded near the cells, causing a fire. The guards started shouting.

"Fire!"

"Near the cells on level five!"

"Every guard to level five!"

The group waited until the guards had passed them when Junjie led them all up to the doors. They slipped out the doors and into the snow.

And so Junjie continued with his plan. He led his Rebel Army to a remote piece of land where they could set up a temporary camp. Junjie also visited Taotie and invited him to join. The warthog happily joined when he found out his machinery skills would finally be put to use. Junjie sent his leopards to spy on Jiao-long to report his progress. Taotie had to build a new machine for battles. Junjie and Fenghuang worked with the rest of the army to create battle plans.

One day, Fenghuang came to Junjie while he was reading the Tri-Dragon of Death book.

"Junjie." Her voice was low. "Your leopard students have been captured by Jiao-long."

Junjie looked up tiredly from his book. "Are they alright?"

"They're a little beat up." Fenghuang said. "Scorpion just returned from talking to them. They've been sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in Jiao-long's dungeon."

"Good." Junjie nodded. "We can rescue them when we attack."

Fenghuang nodded. "You alright?"

"Fine." Junjie sighed. "I'm just worried it won't work."

"We can do this." Fenghuang said confidently. "We're supposed to be a part of a great trio of warriors. I can't believe I'm saying this, but with Shifu on our side, we'll be undefeatable." She flew up to her hammock. "Get some rest." She fell asleep.

Junjie stared at the picture of him, Shifu, and Fenghuang in the Tri-Dragon of Death book. They looked so powerful, so strong. Junjie couldn't help but think about why he thought this was a good idea. What were the odds Shifu actually joined them? And when he knew it was Junjie who arranged it all, what would he think?

Junjie looked down his nose at his glasses as a memory flooded his vision.

_FLASHBACK_

_Junjie ran about the snow-covered courtyard, searching for a certain red panda cub. Suddenly, a snow ball hit the back of his head and someone laughed. The kit turned and saw Shifu laughing hysterically. Junjie grabbed a snowball and chucked it at Shifu, knocking him backwards into the snow. The fox tackled his red panda friend and the two wrestled in the snow. Suddenly, Junjie yelped._

"_My glasses!" he frantically started digging. "I lost my glasses!"_

"_Ok, ok!" Shifu laughed. "Calm down. They're small and black; they'll stand out." He helped Junjie look for the fox's glasses. But no matter how much they dug, the little round frames couldn't be seen. Junjie sat on his haunches and started tugging at his ears nervously._

"_What am I going to do?" he cried. "I need my glasses!"_

"_You aren't that blind." Shifu noted. He was still digging. _

"_Yeah, but I can't read anything without my glasses!" Junjie sniffled. "I don't want to go back to being called 'Squints' or 'Blind Boy' again." _

"_Then we'll keep looking!" Shifu said._

_Junjie's shoulders fell. "They're gone." He sniffed. "I should've put them somewhere safe."_

_Then, Oogway called for the boys to come inside from the cold. Junjie was crying a little when he came to the old tortoise and explained the situation. Shifu laid a comforting paw on his friend's shoulder while Oogway spoke kind words. The three of them walked off to the kitchen for tea while Junjie explained how kids would call him mean names before he got his glasses. After that, it didn't get much better. Oogway listening carefully and nodded. _

"_I'm sure they'll turn up." Oogway assured. "If we don't find them tomorrow or the next day, the snow will melt in spring."_

"_Great." Junjie mumbled. "Plenty of time for the kids to tease me at the Winter Feast." He left the table, saying he was going to bed. Shifu stared after his friend. He thought for a moment before he also got down from his seat._

"_Where are you going, Shifu?" Oogway asked._

"_Outside." Shifu answered simply. He walked away, not noticing Oogway's smile._

_Shifu ran out to where he and Junjie were playing and started digging again. The snow was only four or five inches deep, but Shifu wasn't having much luck. The snow froze his fingers to the point where he couldn't feel them, but he kept digging. Then, it started snowing again. By then, it was dark, but Shifu didn't stop. He kept looking all around. He shifted his fingers through the powder and ice until something smooth brushed his fingers. He reached far under the snow and grabbed the smooth surface, pulling. He opened his fist and brushed the snow off Junjie's little glasses. He smiled and ran back to the barracks. He knocked excitedly on the door. _

_Junjie yawned as he opened the door. His eyes widened when he saw his friend covered in snow. "What are-" Shifu held up Junjie's glasses. The kit's eyes brightened. "You found them!" He took his specs, wiped them off, and put them back on his nose. He smiled at Shifu, whom he could now see clearly. He looked even funnier now that Junjie could clearly see the snow all over the cub. "Thanks, Shifu."_

"_No problem." Shifu smiled, shaking the snow from his head._

_END FLASHBACK_

Junjie smiled softly at the memory. Shifu got a terrible cold the next day and was forced to stay in his room for three days. It was memories like that that reminded Junjie of the better days.

He fell asleep on the Tri-Dragon of Death book, wishing to return to those days.


	11. Ch 8: Battle at the Castle, Take Two

**Chapter Eight- Battle at the Castle, Take Two**

Shifu's mouth dropped open, and he quickly closed it.

"The Tri-Dragon of Death?" he said. "Us?"

Junjie nodded. "Think about it. When we first read this book, was this back there?"

Shifu shook his head. "But, even so, do you have any other proof? A picture doesn't necessarily cover it."

"Not even if it magically appeared?" Junjie pointed out. Shifu shrugged. "Well, if you need any more proof, hold your right arm out." Shifu obeyed, confused. Junjie grabbed his hand with his right paw and Fenghuang grabbed both their hands in her right foot. Suddenly, a symbol appeared on their arms/foot, showing a glowing Chinese dragon circling their forearm/leg. Shifu pulled his hand back, and the mark disappeared.

"What was that?" he demanded.

"The mark of a Dragon of Death." Fenghuang said. "Every member has one. It usually only shows when they touch."

Shifu rubbed his head as a headache came on. "This is way too much to absorb at once."

"I knew it would be." Junjie nodded.

Shifu suddenly glared at him. "How long did you know about this?"

"About the Tri-Dragon of Death?" Junjie said. "Only a few months, when I found the picture of us in the book. The mark only confirms it."

Shifu shook his head and sighed. "So what now?"

"We attack this afternoon." Junjie said. "A soothsayer gave me a prophecy that the Tri-Dragon of Death would fight a great evil and prevent China's destruction. I believe this is Jiao-long. If the prophecy is truly happening, then we are China's only hope."

Shifu stared at the picture of him, Junjie, and Fenghuang in the book. He looked down at his arm, where the Dragon of Death mark hid. "What about the Siren's Gem?"

"We still intend to retrieve it." Fenghuang assured. "There's no way we're letting Jiao-long keep it for very long."

Shifu nodded in understanding. He looked down at the book one last time. "I'm in. If you're truly out to stop Jiao-long, then I'm with you. But if anything goes wrong-"

"Nothing will." Junjie assured. "We'll move out in a few hours."

_STAR STAR STAR STAR STAR_

"This is never going to work." Shifu whispered. "They'll see us coming before we get there."

"Not every plan requires stealth." Junjie protested.

"What about the archers?" Shifu asked.

"Why do you think we're hiding behind Taotie's machine?" Fenghuang pointed out. "Besides, Jiao-long will never suspect us to be crazy enough to charge right through the front door." Shifu groaned, but he didn't say anything else.

"On my signal." Junjie told the Rebel Army. "Ready?" He waited for a moment. "Now!" Taotie revved his machine and shot forward with the group right behind him.

In the watch tower above the door, Jiao-long was inspecting the security. He could easily hear Taotie's machine and ran to the window. "Archers! Fire at will!" The archers fired arrow after arrow at the machine. The rebels were protected from behind the wood. Taotie and Bian Zao managed to duck to avoid the projectiles. Taotie shot arrows right back at the archers. A few gorillas fell off the wall. Taotie drove the machine right through the front gate. Jiao-long barely had time to jump to safety before the watchtower collapsed. He ran to the edge of the wall and watched with amazement as the rebels started their battle with his army.

"Get down there and help!" Jiao-long ordered. "Now!" The archers abandoned their posts and ran down. Jiao-long ran right in the middle of the battle, leaping over the rebels and diving under elephant and gorilla legs. Shifu noticed him. He growled and followed the lizard, Junjie and Fenghuang right behind him. Jiao-long slipped inside the doors of the castle and slammed them shut. Shifu slammed into the wood. He tried to pull it open, but kicked it in frustration when it didn't budge.

"He's locked the door." He informed Fenghuang and Junjie.

"Then we find another way in." Fenghuang urged. She looked up and saw a window high above them. "Hop on." She knelt down and Shifu and Junjie climbed onto her back. She flew up high and into the window. An elephant was there to greet them. Junjie flipped off Fenghuang's back and aimed a sharp kick to the large mammal's forehead. Shifu shot a chi attack at the elephant's stomach and the elephant flew down the hall and landed in a heap on the floor.

"Let's go!" Junjie ordered. The trio ran down the hall, jumping over the elephant.

"Where exactly are we going?" Fenghuang demanded.

"We're looking for the Siren's Gem." Junjie answered. "Where would that be?"

"I don't know." Fenghuang replied. "That's why I'm asking."

"Wait a minute!" Shifu skidded to a halt. Junjie and Fenghuang stopped as well. "Are you telling me you have _no idea _where we're going?" Junjie thought for a moment and then smiled sheepishly. Shifu slapped his forehead. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Sorry." Junjie shrugged. "Didn't go into the details."

"Why wouldn't you-" Fenghuang suddenly slapped a wing over Shifu's mouth.

"Someone's coming!" she hissed. The three of them scaled the wall quickly and hid up in the rafters as Jiao-long came walking down the hallway, flanked by two elephants.

"There aren't very many of them, sir." One elephant said. "But our men are being beaten. What should we do?"

Jiao-long stopped walking; right under Shifu's hiding spot. Junjie noticed and shook his head. Translation: don't attack. Shifu didn't look very happy, but went deeper into the shadows.

"Hold them off as long as possible." Jiao-long decided. "I'll be there momentarily with my machine. How is the old soothsayer?"

"Still in his cell, sir." The second elephant reported. "He won't move."

"Good." Jiao-long nodded. "I'm afraid his execution will have to be private. Such a shame; I had a spectacular show planned. Oh well. At dusk, move the old cat to the private execution chambers."

"Yes, sir." The second elephant nodded and ran off.

"You go help the men." Jiao-long told the first elephant. "I'll be there soon." The elephant saluted and ran off. Jiao-long chuckled to himself. "Oh, what a surprise they're in for." He laughed as he walked off. Once he had disappeared, the three warriors dropped to the ground.

"I officially hate him." Junjie muttered.

"He said an old soothsayer was in the dungeons." Shifu said. "Chao met a cat that was a soothsayer. His name was Jien. He gave Jiao-long the prophecy that told of the Siren's Gem."

"Then he might know where it is!" Junjie realized. "But where would the dungeons be?"

"Most likely below the castle." Fenghuang guessed. "We should hurry. If that cat's going to die at dusk, we want to beat Jiao-long to him." The trio ran off. They sprinted down hallways and leaped down stairs, knocking out any guards they encountered. But it took at least an hour before they found a door labeled "Dungeons".

"Be careful." Shifu warned as they quietly opened the doors. "We don't want to be found." They snuck in through the door and looked around. Two doors lay before them. "You two go in through the right. I'll go left. Jien is an old lynx. Find him and free him. We'll meet here." Junjie and Fenghuang nodded and disappeared through the right door. Shifu entered the left one. He looked in every single cell and noticed most of them were empty. _I hope Jiao-long doesn't execute all his prisoners. _He thought. He got the end of the first row and found a door at the end of the short hallway. He listened for any sounds and pushed it open when he heard nothing. However, he instantly regretted it after finding a variety of execution devices inside. Shifu shut the door and grimaced.

"That was not pleasant." He muttered, feeling a little sick. He started down the other side of the hallway and stopped halfway down. Inside one cell was an old cat, a lynx, with its back turned to Shifu. "Jien?"

The lynx's ears perked up and he wearily turned. "Chao?" he whispered.

"No, but I'm a friend of his." Shifu introduced. "My name is Shifu." Jien turned all the way around to look at Shifu. His eyes softened and he sighed.

"I know you." Jien said softly. "You're a Dragon of Death."

Shifu stared. "How do you-"

_Creak_

Shifu's ears turned to the door, and then his eyes did the same. He noticed the door had been opened. Shifu stood rooted in the spot, his ears swiveling around for the slightest noise and his eyes travelling around the hallway. Nothing could be heard but his low breathing. Suddenly, Shifu felt a force slam into him and a set of arms constricting his chest.

"You're alive!" a girl's voice squealed.

Shifu stopped struggling from the person's grip when he heard the voice. "Lily?" He felt the panther hug him tighter. "Lily, I can't breathe!"

Lily suddenly dropped him. But her smile was still on her face. "I can't believe it! We thought you were a goner!"

"Yeah!" Ling suddenly flipped down from the ceiling. "Don't scare us like that!" Chao appeared behind Ling.

"How did you escape?" Chao asked incredulously. "Last time I saw, you were surrounded."

Shifu rubbed the back of his head. _This is going to be hard to explain. _"That's not important right now. It's a long and complicated story and you wouldn't believe me anyhow."

Lily and Ling gave him identical looks of confusion. "What are you talking about?" they asked.

"Just help me!" Shifu urged. He walked up to Jien's cell door and gave the lock a hard punch. The door flew open. "We have to get Jien out of here." Ling walked in after him and pulled a hairpin from behind her ear. She picked the lock to the shackle on Jien's ankle and helped the old lynx to his feet.

"We'll take him back to our camp." Chao said.

"Did you see what's happening in the courtyard?" Lily said. "All of the Jade Palace's enemies, fighting Jiao-long's forces!"

"How are they doing?" Shifu asked.

"Pretty well, actually." Ling admitted. "Taotie's got a pretty sick machine out there."

"We should go." Lily urged. "Those guys are causing a big enough distraction for us to escape." Lily helped Ling support Jien as the three of them hurried off. Shifu was about to follow when Chao called him back.

"Shifu, why are our enemies here?" Chao demanded. Shifu saw a hard glare in the lizard master's eyes.

"Is now the best time to ask that?" Shifu questioned.

"You know why." Chao continued. "It seems like they've formed their own army. Can you explain that?"

Before Shifu could speak, the door flew open, revealing Junjie, Fenghuang, and Junjie's leopard students. "We couldn't find the soothsayer!" Junjie reported. "But we-" His eyes widened when he saw Chao. "Oh, Master Chao." He laughed awkwardly. "How nice to see you." Chao suddenly dashed towards the fox, but Shifu grabbed Chao's tail and held him back. The elder master whipped around to him.

"Shifu, you let me go or so help me-"

"If it weren't for Junjie, I wouldn't be alive!" Shifu blurted out. "I'm not that willing to admit it, but it's true. Like I said, it's a long and complicated story. But we can trust them. I know we can." Chao stared deep into Shifu's eyes, searching for any lies or fear from a threat. But there was none. Chao growled and yanked his tail from Shifu's grasp. He turned to Junjie.

"Don't try anything funny." He warned. Junjie nodded. Chao turned to Shifu again. "What's the plan?"

"Junjie, Fenghuang, and I are searching for the Siren's Gem." Shifu said. "We were going to ask Jien where it might be."

"Then we should catch up with the twins." Chao said. "Quickly!" He led the way as the others followed. They ran off but stopped short when Lily and Ling grabbed Chao and Shifu and pulled them aside.

"We have a problem!" Ling whispered frantically. She noticed the rest of the group and frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"Long story!" Shifu waved it away. "What's wrong?"

"Jiao-long just wheeled out something big, metal, and very scary!" Lily said in a rush. Everyone gave her a look of utter confusion. She gave an exasperated sigh. "Just look!" She pointed out a nearby window. The group looked and their eyes widened.

"What the devil is that?" Shifu asked, shocked.

"Something big, metal, and scary." Fenghuang replied.

Jiao-long had another machine. But this one was made completely of metal and twice the size of Taotie's machine. A spiked helmet was on top. Three mechanical arms were one either side of the machine, each one with an axe, a hammer, or a giant crossbow. There were multiple slots and holes in the front of the machine, and Jiao-long was shooting flames and shurikens from them. Jiao-long's army was running and the Rebel Army was scattering. Jiao-long threw out everything his machine had to offer, and every hit caused shouts to ring out.

"We have to retreat!" Taotie yelled frantically. "We can't take much more of this!"

"What about Junjie, Shifu, and Fenghuang?" Bian Zao protested. Su was suddenly thrown into the machine.

"They said not to wait for them!" she reminded him. "We have to go!" Taotie swung his machine around and floored it. The wooden machine, badly damaged, sped towards the safety of the forest. The Rebel Army was right behind it.

"They're running?" Lily groaned.

"That was their orders." Junjie nodded. "The plan was supposed to work differently."

"So what do we do?" Chao asked.

"We can't fight and keep Jien safe at the same time." Ling said.

"Is any more of the army here?" Shifu asked.

"No." Chao shook his head. "Just the twins and me."

"We have to find the Siren's Gem." Fenghuang urged.

"No, there's no time." Lily intervened. She readjusted Jien, who was half-limp as he hung between Lily and Ling.

"But we-"

"Quiet!" Shifu snapped. "Look, let's worry about finding a way out first, and then got from there." Everyone exchanged looks and nodded. Shifu led the way this time, taking them back up the stairs and towards the throne room. But when they reached the double doors to said room, there were two elephants blocking the way. The first charged with a giant spear in hand. Chao jumped forward, grabbed the spear end, and slammed his elbow into the wood, breaking off the blade. Junjie used Chao's head for a springboard and drove his foot into the elephant's skull. The second elephant went on all fours and charged. Everyone jumped out of the way as he ran down the hallway.

"Guards!" he shouted. "To the throne room! Intruders!"

"Get inside!" Junjie ordered, pulling open the door. Everyone rushed in and Junjie pulled the door shut behind him. Chao shoved the broken spear between the door handles to barricade it shut.

"What do we do?" Fenghuang asked. "They'll be back soon." Everyone looked around. The throne room was empty except for a large golden throne covered in pillows and tapestries all around the walls, showing Jiao-long in all his magnificence. Shifu caught sight of a lone window and ran to it. All that could be seen outside was the forest.

"Over here!" he called. "Fenghuang, can you fly us down to the ground?"

"Of course." The owl nodded.

"How can we trust her?" Lily demanded.

"Now is not the time to argue!" Shifu intervened. "Take Jien and the twins first." Fenghuang nodded and knelt down. The twins were hesitant, but climbed onto the owl's back with Jien. The old lynx looked ready to pass out. "Get them down safely and then come back."

"As fast as I can." Fenghuang assured. She took off and started gliding down to the grass. She landed and the twins helped load Jien off. Fenghuang shot up to the window and took down Junjie's leopard students. Then she flew up for the last load. "Let's go! Quickly!" Junjie climbed on, Shifu right behind him. Chao stood back, still suspicious.

"Chao, come on!" Shifu persisted. "I won't leave you behind."

That hit Chao like a ton of bricks. _Like how I left you behind…_ He thought. He looked up at Shifu, who had a hand outstretched. Chao took Shifu's paw and the red panda pulled him aboard.

"Hang on!" Fenghuang warned. She began her decent towards Jien, Lily, and Ling.

Then, out of nowhere, a shuriken impaled Fenghuang's wing. She jerked and cried out in pain. Chao slipped and Shifu grabbed his hand. But he too began falling. Junjie, thinking fast, grabbed a fistful of Fenghuang's shirt in one hand and took Shifu's hand in the other. Fenghuang desperately flapped her unhurt wing to soften their landing, but the four of them crashed landed on the ground. They stood quickly as Jiao-long's machine burst through the wall, shooting flames, arrows, and shurikens. A group of elephants surrounded the warriors, who stood ready to fight.

"Fools!" Jiao-long shouted. "You can't possibly win alone!" He aimed his two giant crossbows at the warriors. The twins, Shifu, Junjie and his students, Chao, and Fenghuang stood in a circle around Jien. Two thoughts ran through their minds: protect the soothsayer and try to make it out of there alive. Jien fired two large arrows…

…..which were deflected by about a dozen Ladies of the Shade. The rest of the dancing troupe, along with Song, Po, and the Mongolian Fist Demon, burst from the trees.

"They're not alone!" Po shouted.


	12. Chapter Nine: To Lift Our Spirits

**Chapter Nine- To Lift Our Spirits**

Po lunged for the nearest elephant and panda punched him into the broken wall. The Ladies of the Shade and the Mongolian Fist Demon jumped in to attack. Song stayed behind and glared at the enemies standing with her allies.

"What are you doing here?" she snarled at Junjie.

"Song, now's not the time." Shifu said quickly. "I can't personally explain everything later!" They turned as Jiao-long knocked aside the Mongolian Fist Demon and advanced towards them. Jiao-long shot his hammer down, but it was quickly blocked by large wooden beam. Shifu looked up in surprise.

"Taotie?" he called.

The warthog nodded and thrust his machine's other arm into Jiao-long's, knocking off the spiked helmet. The rest of the Rebel Army charged, fighting off the elephants.

"Orders, sir?" Taotie called to Junjie.

The fox turned to Shifu. "What do you say?"

"We need to retreat." Shifu said reluctantly. "We can take out Jiao-long's men, but the machine is too much."

"We need a distraction." Song suggested. "So Jiao-long won't follow us."

Shifu noticed the Mongolian Fist Demon rise and grab a tree, uprooting it from the ground. Most of Jiao-long's men were knocked out. "I have an idea. Song, tell everyone that when Jiao-long's men are defeated, retreat. Junjie, Fenghuang, and Chao, stay with me to protect Jien." Song nodded and ran off. The twins joined her. Shifu ran up to the Mongolian Fist Demon and stopped him. The demon leaned down to the small master and listened to his plan. The demon seemed to understand, because he then started swinging his tree this way and that, knocking away Jiao-long's men. In moments, the elephants were out cold or knocked many yards away. Everyone began running into the forest.

"You can't escape me!" Jiao-long shouted. He aimed his crossbows. But before he could fire, his vision was shrouded with brown and green. He spit leaves out of his mouth and pushed branches away, realizing the Mongolian Fist Demon and thrown the tree into the machine. He used the hammer to knock it away, but the warriors had disappeared. Grumbling Jiao-long turned his machine around and went back to the castle. "Next time, for sure." He nodded to himself. "They will die."

Shifu, Chao, Fenghuang, and Junjie sprinted through the forest after their armies. The Mongolian Fist Demon trailed after them, gradually getting smaller.

"Well this has been fun." Junjie muttered.

"So much for our plan." Fenghuang added. "We'll have to start from scratch."

Chao skidded to a halt. "We?"

Everyone else stopped. Fenghuang frowned. "Of course. The Rebel Army's goal is to stop Jiao-long, just like you."

"What makes you think I'd believe that?" Chao demanded. "You almost got us killed!"

"We helped you fight off Jiao-long!" Junjie protested. "Now is not the time to fight; we're on your side."

"I don't trust you!" Chao snapped. "Not after what you did." He suddenly shifted into a fighting stance. "You can either leave now, or I can drop kick you to jail."

Fenghuang stood in front of Junjie and raised her wings, pointing her sharp feathers down at Chao. "Just try it."

Shifu and Junjie suddenly jumped between them. "Now stop it!" Shifu yelled. Chao and Fenghuang recoiled.

"Like it or not, we're going to have to work together!" Junjie snapped. "So here are your choices: go home, or shut up and listen to us so we aren't all killed by Jiao-long!" Chao and Fenghuang stared, but relaxed from their stances.

"Alright." Chao nodded. "Alright. So we're working together. Then let's get to our armies before they start attacking each other." They continued back to the camp of the Jade Palace Army. The Jade Palace and Rebel Armies were arguing, but not attacking….yet. Shifu, Chao, Junjie, Fenghuang, and the Mongolian Fist Demon approached them.

"Everyone settle down!" Chao ordered. "Whether we like it or not, we're on the same side, and we must work together to defeat Jiao-long once and for all!"

"Yeah right!" Mantis protested. "Give us one _very good _reason why we should!"

"How about this: Junjie is the reason I wasn't killed by Jiao-long." Shifu offered. Everyone went silent. Shifu explained to them everything: how Fenghuang, Su, Scorpion, Taotie, and Bian Zao saved him, asked for his help, kept him safe, everything. The only thing he left out was the whole Tri-Dragon of Death thing. At moment, it seemed too weird. When Shifu was finished, everyone was staring. The two armies exchanged looks.

"So what are we supposed to do?" Peng asked.

"The boy's right." Temutai nodded.

"I've never seen anything like Jiao-long's machine." Taotie added. "Just look what it did to mine!"

"We can't just keep attacking and then retreating." Crane said.

"It's getting embarrassing." Monkey nodded.

"With everyone here, we can go with a full-scale attack!" Scorpion suggested.

"Jiao-long will expect that." Jong said.

"We need something smarter." Song said. Everyone looked towards the generals of the armies.

Chao sighed. "The addition of this new machine is definitely a disadvantage."

"It's obviously powered by the Siren's Gem." Fenghuang said. "There's no way it can have that much power without it."

"Let's go over our plans." Shifu said. "We'll have to figure _something _out." He walked off to the main tent with Chao, Junjie, and Fenghuang following. The two armies lounged around, discouraged.

"What's the point of all this?" Fung asked hopelessly. "This Jiao-long guy will murder us!"

"I hate to say this." Po shook his head. "But Fung's right."

"We can't give up." Su said.

"It can't be that hopeless." Hundun encouraged. "Can it?"

"We've seen Jiao-long's machine ourselves." Bian Zao sighed. "It's big, scary, and made of metal."

"Its weaponry is pretty strong." Su added.

"And if it's being powered by this Siren's Gem thing, I don't see how we can beat it without its power source." Tong Fo nodded.

"Then we take out the Siren's Gem!" Song urged.

"But how?" Tigress asked. "We don't even know what it is." She sighed. "Let's face it: this may be a battle we can't win."

"You can't talk like that!" Po suddenly shouted. "Come on, look at us! The Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior! The Ladies of the Shade!" The dancers smiled a little. "The legendary Temutai and Jong Sung Jai Kai Chow and their warriors!" Temutai and Jong stood up a little straighter. "Fung, you and your bandits are a great help!" Fung didn't seem too enthusiastic."Dosu and Sai So, I'm still sore from the last time you guys beat me up!" The red mantis stood proudly. "And the Mongolian Fist Demon and Peng! Pure awesomeness!" The little blue demon growled happily and Peng smiled. "Lily, Ling, you're the best twins I know!" The panthers giggled. "We're the best warriors China has to offer!"

Po turned to the Rebel Army. "I know you guys are our enemies, but even I have to admit how strong you really are. Taotie, you're machines are amazing and strong!" Taotie smirked proudly. "Su, you were once the leader of the Ladies of the Shade! You could take me out in two seconds!" Su nodded teasingly. "Tong Fo, you're a pure genius!" Tong Fo shrugged humbly. "Scorpion, you honestly scare me!" Scorpion laughed. "Hundun, you aren't necessarily the smartest rhino I know, but you're definitely one of the strongest." Hundun frowned at first, but then smiled. "You guys saved Master Shifu's life. And I thank you for it.

"Don't you see?" Po called to everyone. "We're the best warriors in all of China! No stupid lizard is going to beat us!" He turned in the direction of Jiao-long's castle. "So just try and beat us you scaly freak of nature! We're the Rebel Army and the Jade Palace Army, led by Masters Shifu, Chao, Junjie, and Fenghuang! We're gonna take you down and you'll learn not to mess with us!"

There was silence. Po smiled triumphantly. For a moment, there was a tiny flame of hope.

"An inspiring speech." Song admitted. "But you're forgetting what Jiao-long has: the Siren's Gem."

Out went the proverbial flame of hope.

Any smile that was present disappeared. Song continued talking. "We can go in there and fight until we die, but Jiao-long will win. It even said so in the prophecy: the army will fall to Jiao-long. And then Jiao-long will go on to destroy China." Song swallowed the lump in her throat. "And we will all die, knowing we had failed in saving our home."

Everyone reluctantly nodded their heads in agreement. They began settling down into their thoughts of hopelessness. Po flopped down onto the ground, leaning against a tree. He started tapping on a rock near him; he tapped a bright and happy tune, but it was slow and lifeless. After a minute, Tigress growled.

"Panda, what are you doing?" She growled.

Po jumped a little. "Tapping….."

"Why?"

"I'm bored?" Po offered. "I don't know, I'm just-"

"Wait a minute." Ling piped up. She turned to Po. "Do that again; that tapping, but quicker." Po was confused, but started tapping his fingers on the rock. The song sounded upbeat.

"I know that song!" Ling said. "They play it at the bar all the time!" She grabbed a stick and broke it in half. She tossed the pieces to Po. "Play it again!" Po smiled a little and started playing the rock like a drum. Ling reached to her hips and took out her twin battle fans. She leaped into the air, did a flip, and landing lightly on the balls of her feet. Po caught on and kept playing. Ling waved her fans about, twisted and turned, and her feet glided across the ground, performing a beautiful dance. Lily smiled and took out her own fans, joining her sister's dance. Slowly, everyone turned and watched. Bian Zao climbed into his father's machine and came out with pipa*, strumming it. Monkey broke another stick and tapped the pieces on the axe on Taotie's machine. The combined noises raised into upbeat and joyful music that Lily and Ling began dancing to. At times, Ling would cast a seductive smile, making the male population of the two armies drool. One by one, the members of the armies began to smile and laugh. The tiny flame of hope had been rekindled and flamed brighter.

Confused by the noise, Shifu, Chao, Junjie, and Fenghuang walked out of their tent.

"They're insane." Junjie shook his head. The four of them journeyed over to the group.

"What are you two doing?" Chao asked Lily and Ling, who were still dancing. The Ladies of the Shade had joined in with their parasols.

"We're lifting our spirits." Ling replied.

"With beautiful dancing." Lily finished.

"Care to join us?" Ling asked.

"I hear you're quite the dancer, Shifu." Lily smirked.

"Not in the least." Shifu said dully.

Ling flipped into the air and landed in a split position in front of the masters. "Don't make me force you….." She teased.

"Touch me and you die." Shifu growled. Ling shrugged and twirled away. "Can you believe them?"

"It's a way to raise their spirits." Junjie shrugged. "Can't blame them. Fenghuang used to be a pretty good dancer, right Fenghuang?" No answer. Suddenly, the owl was spotted high above them, flipping and twirling before landing between Lily and Ling.

"Whoever said I _used _to be good?" Fenghuang smirked. She began dancing with the panther twins, flying into the air and performing acrobatic feats. Lily and Ling would jump after her, using their fans to flutter to the ground like birds.

"Amazing." Chao breathed. _Siren would've loved this. _

The music got faster and swelled in sound. The Ladies of the Shade, including Song and Su, created a pyramid with their parasols. Lily and Ling each gave huge leaps and landed on the top. Fenghuang flew round and round the pyramid before landing on the top in the grand finale.

Po finished his drumming and threw his makeshift drumsticks into the air. Unfortunately, one flew towards the pyramid and hit a Lady of the Shade. She fell, and the unbalanced pyramid followed. Fenghuang flapped her wings to stay in the air, but all the female cats that made the pyramid fell in a heap on the ground. Bian Zao and Monkey stopped their playing and everyone stared. They expected the cats to shout or attack the Dragon Warrior.

Then, Lily and Ling began to laugh. The Ladies of the Shade giggled and soon joined laughing; so did the rest of the armies.

"That was so fun!" Lily cried happily.

"Let's do it again!" Ling clapped. The army cheered encouragingly.

"Hey Po!" Song tossed the panda his makeshift drumsticks. "Try to not throw those again, huh?" Everyone laughed. Bian Zao, Po, and Monkey started playing again. The cats danced once more. Fenghuang flew down to Shifu, Junjie, and Chao.

"She's right." The owl nodded. "That _was _fun."

"And it lifted everyone's spirits." Junjie noted. "Everyone's so happy now."

Chao smiled. "Ren would've loved to see this."

Shifu and Junjie nodded, remembering Chao's wife. Then, Shifu felt something ice cold on his chest. He reached into his collar and touched the golden locket Chao had given him. Instantly, multiple visions flooded his eyesight. The Jade Palace and Rebel Armies fighting Jiao-long's men; the black and the white dragons battling in the sky: Jiao-long and Chao clashing together, both with swords in hand; him, Junjie, and Fenghuang in fighting stances, their marks glowing. The last vision was a young girl with black hair and pale skin standing on a mountain. She turned to Shifu and stared at him with her piercing green eyes.

"You promised." She whispered.

The visions faded. Shifu panted a little, startled by the visions. Junjie turned to him.

"Something wrong?" he asked. Fenghuang turned as well, just as Shifu spun around and ran to the main tent. Junjie and Fenghuang were right behind him. Shifu ran in and saw Jien sitting in a lotus position, breathing evenly. His wounds had been dressed and he had been well rested. Shifu bowed to him.

"I'm sorry to disturb your meditation, but I have something to ask you." Shifu said quickly. Junjie and Fenghuang stood behind him.

Jien opened his eyes and smiled at Shifu. "What is your question?"

Shifu glared a little. "What, or rather, _who_ is the Siren's Gem?"

*A pipa is like the guitar thing Po played in the episode _Big Bro Po._


	13. Chapter Ten: The Siren's Gem Revealed

**Chapter Ten-The Siren's Gem Revealed**

Jien smiled. "I see, you've figure it out."

"I've figured out that there's something weird about this Siren's Gem." Shifu replied. "For example, how is it that nobody knows what it is except you and Jiao-long?"

Jien chuckled lightly. "I know you're smarter than that, Shifu."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Junjie demanded.

Jien only smiled.

Jiao-long sat at his desk, looking over the prophecy. He had been reading it over and over again.

"'The one chosen by his devil will rise once more to destroy China himself.

His armies are so strong he won't lose

The warriors of the palace will come and fall to this threat

The one that decides the winner is the Siren's Gem.'" He read. He rubbed his face. "'His devil'? I wasn't chosen by any devil, unless you count my master. If the warriors of the palace are supposed to fall, why can't I kill them so easily?" Jiao-long shook his head. "It shouldn't matter. The winner is to be decided based on the Siren's Gem, which is in my possession." Jiao-long set the prophecy down. "Still….." He stood and walked to the window, staring outside. The fading sunlight cast long shadows, one of them belonging to a tower in the center of the castle. Jiao-long stared at the shadow, imagining its owner and its occupant. The Siren's Gem has power his machine with such a force that he has been unstoppable. But something seemed out of place. The Siren's Gem has been acting differently. Its power is…..fading? Is that possible? But how?

Jiao-long growled and leaned on the windowsill. He wouldn't be so confused if the soothsayer was still around. He could tell him why the Siren's Gem was failing.

"Think about it." Jien told the masters. "Surely Chao told you about how he found me, no? Otherwise, how could you know about me?"

Shifu stared at the floor. "He told me, yes."

"What can you remember?" Jien asked.

Shifu searched his memories. "He told me about the prophecy you gave to Jiao-long. But….." Shifu's eyes narrowed. "But you wrote it in another language and they had to translate it." His eyes widened. "The translator didn't understand what it meant….."

"Because…." Jien asked.

"Because he must've translated it wrong!" Shifu realized.

Jiao-long walked back to his desk. He took out his sword and started practicing. As he did, he imagined his enemies falling and the Siren's Gem wiping them out. He smiled triumphantly. There isn't any possible way the Gem would fail him.

He had leverage.

Jien nodded. "Very good. So what does that mean?"

Shifu stood and grabbed the translated prophecy Chao took from his bag. He read it over. "Ok, so maybe that translator simply mixed up a few words. What language did you write the prophecy in?"

"That translator may be fluent in over a hundred languages, but he wasn't fluent in a dead language." Jien pulled out a piece of paper from his pants. "I wrote it in a type of Eurasian text I learned in Indonesia."

"I've been there!" Fenghuang said. "I lived there for a few years."

"You think you can read this?" Junjie asked, pointing to the prophecy.

"I can try." Fenghuang nodded. Shifu placed the prophecies side by side and Fenghuang looked over the original text. After a minute of reading, her eyes widened. "That's not possible."

"I believe Master Oogway once said that nothing is impossible." Jien noted. "Were you not one of his students?"

"But that can't be!" Fenghuang cried. She looked fearful. "She's just a child!"

"Not so much anymore." Jien shrugged.

"You don't know her like I do!" Fenghuang hissed. "And certainly not like _they _do!" She pointed towards Junjie and Shifu.

"Know who, Fenghuang?" Junjie asked. Fenghuang turned to him and sighed, clearly shaken.

Jiao-long continued his sword practice for a few minutes before putting away his sword. He moved on to practice his kung fu. He kicked, punched, and swiped his claws at invisible opponents. The thought of wiping out his enemies made a lust for blood grow in his chest. The lust grew and grew until all Jiao-long could think about was spilling their blood on the ground. Oh what a beautiful beginning to his reign. There was going to be a whole new Year of the Dragon that people far and wide will talk about. China will respect and obey him or die. But is it better to be feared or loved?

Jiao-long spun around and sent a blast of chi into the fireplace. The flames swelled and shot out of the chimney.

Oh yes. It was better to be feared. Those who fear you won't be brave enough to oppose you.

Jiao-long straightened and tenderly touched the wounds on his face from Jien's scratches. "I hate cats….." he muttered. Still, the scar would look very menacing.

Suddenly, a guard burst into the room. "Sir! The Siren's Gem is gone!"

Jiao-long's eyes widened. "What?"

"We're in pursuit, sir!" the guard said. "But she's going insane! I think she's sleepwalking!"

Jiao-long calmed down. He had been through this before. He pushed past the guard and ran down the hallway. He followed the sounds of his guards shouting and a girl screaming. He found a large group of his guards surrounding the screaming girl, who kept launching lightning bolts, fireballs, and anything else she could pull from thin air. Jiao-long calmly walked past his guards and stared at the Siren's Gem.

"Be still!" he shouted.

The chaos ceased instantly. Jiao-long walked up and knelt down next to the Siren's Gem, laying a hand on it. "It's alright. You're safe."

"Fenghuang, I don't understand." Shifu shook his head. "What are you talking about?"

"The prophecy is wrong!" Fenghuang snapped. She turned towards the door, but Shifu and Junjie held her back.

"Where are you going?" Junjie asked.

"I'm going to tear Jiao-long limb from limb!" Fenghuang hissed. "He won't get away with this!"

"Get away with what?" Shifu gave a hard tug and threw Fenghuang back. "What are you talking about?"

"Fenghuang." Jien said calmly. The Eurasian owl turned to the lynx. "Tell them what the prophecy _really _says."

Fenghuang sighed and walked up to the prophecy. Junjie and Shifu stood with her. Their eyes widened in shock and realization when she read the prophecy. Jien could only smile, knowing that Oogway's prediction had finally come true. The members of the Tri-Dragon of Death were stricken with a memory that had been buried deep into their brains.

"'The one chosen by his master will rise once more to take China for himself.

His armies are so large that he cannot be defeated so easily.

The warriors of the land must band together to take on this threat and vanquish it.

The one who will decide the victor is a human by the name of Siren Jin.'"


	14. Oneshot: Rescue

**Rescue**

"Ok, five Yuan says this hits the soup and splashes in his face." Junjie proposed, holding up a small stone.

"No way!" Fenghuang shook her head. "Ten Yuan says you hit his head!"

"What do you think, Shifu?" Junjie asked.

"I think we should get back to patrolling the valley and not play pranks like children." Shifu said, leaning against the trunk of the tree they were in.

"Learn to have a little fun." Fenghuang said. "Besides, we're still technically kids."

"I say don't start growing up until you feel like it." Junjie added. He turned back to his target, the noodle shop below them. "Now watch me splash soup all over this guy!"

"You won't." Shifu said. "Fifteen Yuan says this happens: you throw the rock and it goes towards the goose's head. He bends down for something, the rock hits some bowls and breaks them, the goose sees us and yells, 'I'll get you crazy kids!', and then we run."

"Fifteen Yuan out of your pocket." Junjie shrugged. He threw the rock like a shuriken. It started flying towards the goose's head.

"Told you." Fenghuang said.

"Wait for it." Shifu said.

Then, the goose dropped his ladle and bent down to pick it up. The rock sailed over his head and the sound of crashing bowls rings out. The goose straightens and sees three figures in the tree. "I'll get you crazy kids!" he shouted. Junjie, Fenghuang, and Shifu scrambled down the tree and out of sight. When they stopped, Junjie and Fenghuang dug fifteen Yuan out of their pockets and handed the coins to Shifu, who tucked them away.

"I had good plans for that money." Junjie grumbled. "How do you do that?"

"Analyzing of the situation and those involved." Shifu shrugged. "I guess I'm good like that."

"Whatever." Junjie grumbled. "What now?"

"We go home." Fenghuang shrugged. "We're done patrolling anyhow." The three started home.

"It's too bad Chao couldn't make it." Junjie said. "He would've loved this."

"No, he would've loved scolding us for this." Shifu corrected.

"You guys see much of Chao nowadays?" Fenghuang asked.

"Nah." Junjie shook his head. "He's getting ready to present himself for the Hierarch Tournament. Hierarch Zhan Shi is retiring soon and has to choose someone new to lead the Sacred Onyx Council."

"How come you never went for that?" Shifu asked.

"I wasn't meant to be hierarch." Junjie shrugged. "Too much work."

"Yeah right." Shifu shook his head.

"What about you, Shifu?" Fenghuang asked. "Why didn't you go for the Sacred Onyx Council?"

"My place is here, at the Jade Palace." Shifu replied. "When Oogway passes, I will take over for him."

"What about me?" Fenghuang asked.

"You can be second in command." Junjie suggested.

"Oh, I don't think so!" Fenghuang protested.

"Oogway has already chosen." Shifu shrugged. "How about this: if we ever create another Furious Five, you can be leader. Deal?"

"Yes!" Fenghuang punched the air in excitement.

"You two are so weird." Junjie shook his head.

"Oh come off it." Fenghuang gave the fox a playful shove. The three of them laughed.

Suddenly, Shifu stopped. His ears perked up at a sound. He listened carefully. Junjie and Fenghuang stopped and looked back at him.

"Something wrong?" Junjie asked. Shifu raised a hand for silence. He strained his ears for a sound.

There! A scream, far on the other side of the village.

"You hear that, too?" Junjie asked.

"Let's go!" Shifu ordered. The three of them sprinted/flew off towards the scream. Fenghuang flew fast ahead as Junjie and Shifu leaped across buildings. Fenghuang reached the commotion before they did and was able to see the extent of the damage. Bandits, a couple dozen gorillas, were ransacking vendors and scaring defenseless villagers. Fenghuang swooped down and took out a few gorillas. Shifu and Junjie arrived seconds after her and began attacking. They knocked down as many as they could, but more kept taking their place.

"Where did these freaks come from?" Junjie snapped, taking down a few gorillas.

"No idea." Shifu shook his head as he gave a nearby ape a roundhouse kick to the face.

"We have to take them down, quickly!" Fenghuang said. She landed on the ground and launched her newest learned move: the Thundering Wind Hammer. Executed almost flawlessly as five or six gorillas were blown away. Shifu did a back flip to avoid a hammer and landed next to Junjie.

"Have you been practicing the Golden Lotus Clap?" he asked.

"That may do more harm than good." Junjie said. The gorillas surrounded the two of them.

"Hey you overgrown monkeys!"

The gorillas, Shifu, Junjie, and Fenghuang turned and saw a figure standing a ways away, wearing black pants, a black shirt, and a rice hat to cover their face.

"Catch me if you can!" the figure, a girl shouted. She turned and ran off. The dozen gorillas that weren't unconscious chased her.

"They're after a kid?" Fenghuang said incredulously.

"We have to help her!" Shifu shouted. "Come on!" He ran off after the apes, Junjie and Fenghuang right behind him. They found the gorillas cornering the girl in an alleyway. The girl had grabbed a broom and was desperately trying to beat back the gorillas. But one of the apes grabbed the broom and yanked it out of her grasp, tossing it over his shoulder.

"Nice try, kid." He laughed.

Junjie caught the broom and twirled it around like a staff. "My turn!" he announced. He ran forward and used the broom like a pole vault, driving his foot into the nearest gorilla's nose. Shifu and Fenghuang moved in to attack as well. But the gorillas must have anticipated it, because they managed to grab the three warriors and throw them into the corner with the girl. They stood in front of the girl, ready to fight, but the odds were against them. Then, a cloaked figure stepped through the wall of gorillas. Nothing could be seen about his except his tail and a red forked tongue that flickered in and out from the hood.

"What are your orders, Master?" one of the gorillas asked.

The figure seemed to regard them for a while. "I only need the girl." He turned and walked off. "Kill the others." The gorillas readied themselves.

"Fenghuang, get the kid out of here." Shifu ordered. "Junjie and I will hold them off."

"Are you insane?" Fenghuang said. "I'm not leaving you two to get crushed."

"Take Junjie with you, then." Shifu added.

"Not leaving." Junjie said.

The gorillas suddenly charged forward. The warriors prepared for a battle when the girl suddenly flipped over their heads. They reached out to stop her, but the girl jumped and did a flying side kick towards the gorillas.

Flames shot from her foot.

The gorillas reared back and the girl landed softly on the ground. She pounded her fist into the ground, shaking it. The gorillas fell to the ground. The girl stood tall and raised her hands to the sky, then lowered them behind her. The gorillas, once they had recovered from their shock, charged towards her. The girl pushed her hand forward, launching a powerful, white-colored chi attack. The gorillas went flying, over a couple houses and crash-landing out of sight.

Junjie, Shifu, and Fenghuang stared as the girl relaxed and turned to them. "What?"

"How did you do that?" Shifu asked.

"No idea." The girl shrugged. "It happens sometimes. I'm just glad you can see it, too."

"Ok, who are you and what are you doing here?" Junjie asked.

"I was just visiting here with my dad and we got separate." The girl explained. "Next thing I know, these apes are chasing me and wanting to kidnap me. I know some kung fu, but I'm still learning."

"We should get you back to your dad." Fenghuang said. "We'll take you to him."

"I can handle it." The girl assured. "I highly doubt those idiots are gonna try and kidnap me again."

"I really think we should…"

"Don't worry about it." The girl shook her head. "I can see him now. Later!" She ran off down the alleyway.

"Hey kid!" Junjie called. The girl turned to them. "Can we get a name?"

"The name's Siren." The girl said, tilting her hat to show her smile. "Siren Jin."


	15. Chapter Eleven: Finding Siren

**Chapter Eleven- Finding Siren**

"The prophecy wasn't talking about a gem." Fenghuang whispered.

"And it wasn't talking about a creature." Junjie noted.

"It was talking about Siren Jin." Shifu realized. "The girl we saved all those years ago."

Jien nodded. "You are correct."

Shifu leaned on the table. The ice cold feeling returned and he removed the golden locket from around his neck.

"What's that?" Junjie asked.

"Chao gave it to me." Shifu said. "I promised him I'd find the person in this locket and bring them home." He sighed with dread and opened the locket. One look inside, and he had to close his eyes to hide the pain. He placed the open locket on the table with the prophecy. Junjie and Fenghuang looked and their eyes widened. Inside were two pictures. On the left was Chao standing next to a woman with pale skin, bright green eyes, and dark hair, wearing a beautiful red wedding dress. Chao was also dressed for a wedding. On the right was another picture of the woman, this time in a simple pair of pants and a shirt. On her lap was a young girl that looked just like her.

"Siren…" Junjie whispered.

"I don't understand." Fenghuang shook her head. "Who's the woman with Chao and Siren?"

"That's Ren." Shifu said softly. "Chao's wife and Siren's mother."

"Chao wanted you to find Siren." Junjie guessed. Shifu nodded. Fenghuang stood up straighter.

"And that's just what we're going to do." She said firmly. "Jiao-long never had any rock; he had that girl. And we're going to save her."

"How?" Shifu asked. "We can clearly see a tower in the center of the castle; Siren must be up there."

"We shouldn't bring the army in yet." Junjie said. "Siren obviously has powers that can help us. So if we release her, then we'll be set."

"So we go in, get Siren, and get out?" Shifu rephrased.

"And then we launch a full-out attack that will bring Jiao-long to his knees!" Fenghuang said.

"Perfect." Shifu nodded.

"Let's inform the others." Junjie said. They walked towards the exit.

"Junjie…"

The fox turned to Jien. "Don't forget the other prophecy you have."

Junjie's eyes widened in realization, and he nodded. They continued to the army. Lily, Ling, and the Ladies of the Shade were still dancing. When they finished, Junjie called for everyone's attention.

"We have some new information and a new plan." Junjie announced. "This so-called Siren's Gem is not a gem, but a human by the name of Siren Jin." Chao's eyes widened. "We won't be going in with a full-fledged attack because Jiao-long will expect that. Shifu, Fenghuang, and I are going to Jiao-long's castle now. We're going to find Siren and try and bring her back. When we return, we'll launch an attack on Jiao-long to finish him once and for all. If Siren really does have great powers, then that'll be perfect to bring Jiao-long down. Everyone clear on the plan?"

"We'll be waiting right here." Su promised.

"Just make sure you hurry back." Po said. "I'm seriously ready to beat this guy down."

"Don't attack until our orders." Shifu said as he, Junjie, and Fenghuang left. "If we're not back by sunrise tomorrow, send someone to search for us."

Chao trailed after them. "I'm coming with you." He said once they were away from the armies' earshot.

"No, Chao, you need to stay with the army." Shifu said. "Should we not return alive, which I doubt that'll happen, you need to lead the army."

"I'm coming with you!" Chao repeated.

"Chao…" Shifu stopped the elder master.

"Siren is _my _daughter!" Chao hissed. "I haven't seen her in over a year!"

"I know, but-"

"I won't lose her again!" Chao's voice was rising.

"Chao, listen to me!" Shifu snapped. "I made you a promise, remember?" He showed Chao the locket, which he had put around his neck once more. "I promised you that I would find her and return this to her. I agreed to bring her home, safe and sound. I'm going to find her now and give her back the locket. I promised I'd bring her home, and I will keep that promise till my dying breath. You have my word."

Chao glared hard into Shifu's eyes. There was an extremely tense moment of silence. Finally, Chao took a shaky breath and nodded.

"Please." He whispered. "Bring her back."

_STAR STAR STAR STAR STAR_

Shifu, Junjie and Fenghuang peered through the trees, looking up at Jiao-long's castle. The guards were heavily armed as they patrolled the walls, or at least, what was left of it.

"Should we go straight to the tower?" Fenghuang pointed towards said tower. A single window let out the light from inside.

"They'll see us and shoot us down." Junjie said. "We have to create a distraction and fly in the nearest window."

"But where?" Shifu asked. He craned his neck, but couldn't see another window below the tower.

"How about there?" Junjie suggested. He pointed to a large window near a destroyed part of the wall. "That's the window we escaped from earlier."

"Perfect." Fenghuang nodded. "Climb on." Shifu and Junjie hopped onto the owl's back and she flew up into the air. Shifu stopped her. "What?"

"We need a distraction." He said simply. He looked around and pulled and apple from the branch above the one Fenghuang rested on. He threw it as hard as he could and the fruit connected with a guard's skull. Though it didn't knock him out, he did tumble over the edge and land on the ground. The guards working on the wall ran to help. Fenghuang took her opportunity and darted towards the window. She disappeared just as a guard was looking up. He only shrugged and went back to work.

"We're in." Fenghuang said as Shifu and Junjie dismounted from her back. "Now what?"

"We find some stairs to that tower." Junjie said. They rushed out the door and down the hall.

"This place is huge." Fenghuang said. "How are we supposed to find one lousy set of stairs?"

They rounded a corner. In front of them was a door labeled "Stairs to the Siren's Gem's Chambers".

"Found them." Shifu said. Fenghuang rolled her eyes as she opened the door and the three of them snuck inside. They began their ascent up the stairs. Round and round and round they went up the corridor, with only torches to light their way. After a while, Junjie began panting.

"I don't think…..even the Jade Palace…mountain has…..this many steps!" he panted.

"No kidding!" Fenghuang was breathing a little hard. "There's no room for me to fly!"

"I think we're almost there!" Shifu huffed.

"You….said that…..five flights ago!" Junjie protested. Suddenly, they hit a door. "Finally!" The three of them took a moment to catch their breaths. Shifu peered in through the keyhole and listened.

"I don't think anyone's in there." He said. "But it's very odd."

"How so?" Junjie asked.

Shifu pushed open the door. "One, it's not locked. Two, this doesn't look anything like a prison."

The three of them stepped in and closed the door behind them. They stared around the large room.

A grand bed was against the wall, at least 2 meters squared. It was covered with beautifully decorated pillows and extra soft-looking blankets. Some toys were scattered at the foot of the bed. The walls were painted gold. The floor was covered in soft felt rugs. A large desk was near the window, covered art supplies: paint, brushes, paper, small nails and a hammer; multiple pictures, hand drawn, covered the floor and the walls. A large closet was across from the bed with a full-length mirror near it. The closet was overflowing with beautiful dresses. Silk curtains covered the window. Only one thing seemed out of place: a Bo staff was propped against the bed, pure black with a golden dragon on it.

"I remember that." Junjie said wistfully. He picked up the staff and stared at it. "Siren saw it in the village and fell in love with it. Oogway sent us away with her so he could secretly buy it."

"Look here." Shifu said. He walked to the other side of the bed and picked up a poster from one of the pillows. He showed it to Junjie. The poster was of Chao.

"I guess without the locket, she doesn't have much to remind her of him." Junjie shrugged.

"Would you look at these?" Fenghuang nearly squealed. She felt the dresses in the closet and pulled a couple out to look at them. "These dresses are so beautiful!" Shifu and Junjie gave her an exasperated look.

"Once a girl…." Shifu started.

"Always a girl." Junjie finished.

"Oh shut up." Fenghuang snapped. "Just look at this!" She pulled out a purple Renaissance style dress. "This isn't even Chinese!"

"Most likely Jiao-long's attempts to bribe Siren." Shifu shook his head. "Where is she?"

"I'm sure she'll turn up." Junjie assured. "Let's not panic."

Suddenly they heard voices outside the door.

"Panic!" Junjie whispered.

"Hide!" Shifu hissed. Fenghuang buried herself into the closet while Shifu and Junjie dove under the bed just as the door opened. Shifu and Junjie listened.

"Now then, into your room, my dear." Jiao-long's voice said. "And no running off, now."

"I understand." A girl's voice said.

"If you need anything, just call." Jiao-long said. "Have a good night!" He shut the door. From where Junjie and Shifu were, they could only see a pair of pale human feet walking about the room. They traveled to the closet and a white nightgown was pulled out. Thankfully, Fenghuang was not seen. The feet walked back towards the bed and small red dress dropped to the floor. The feet stepped out of the dress and a hand picked it up. A voice began humming as the bottom of the white nightgown could be seen. Then, the voice started to sing a lullaby. The feet twirled and danced about gracefully before resting near the window. The voice finished singing, and a sigh could be heard.

"Wow." Shifu breathed. Suddenly, he jumped a little when he heard snoring. He looked over at Junjie next to him, but the fox was asleep. Shifu rolled his eyes and elbowed Junjie. The fox snorted and shook his head to wake up.

"What happened?" he yawned.

"You fell asleep." Shifu whispered.

"Not my-whoa!" Junjie was suddenly dragged out of sight. Shifu lunged for him, but something wrapped around his wrist and dragged him out from under the bed. The silk bed curtains suddenly wrapped around him and Junjie like snakes, dangerously close to the window.

"What are you doing in my room you perverted creeps?" a girl shouted. Junjie and Shifu twisted around and saw a young human, about seventeen, with obsidian black hair, pale skin, and bright green eyes. Her arms were outstretched, and it was clear she was the one controlling the curtains.

"Siren!" Junjie said, pulling the fabric from his mouth. "Siren! It's us!"

Siren's eyes narrowed. But when she realized who she had strung up, her eyes widened and her hands fell to her sides. Shifu and Junjie were dropped unceremoniously to the ground. They stood to face Siren. The young human hadn't changed a bit, minus the growth of her chest area. With her long black hair flowing to her knees and wearing a pure white, long-sleeved nightgown, you would've thought she was some sort of angel.

For Siren's part, she couldn't believe who she was seeing. As a young child, she had always seen Shifu and Junjie as her best friends, family even. After not seeing them for so long, Siren could do nothing more than kneel down and pull the two of them into a bone-crushing hug.

"I missed you guys so much!" she squealed.

"Siren!" Shifu gasped. "Can't….breathe!"

Siren suddenly dropped them and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. And sorry about the whole 'perverted creeps' thing."

"Not a problem." Junjie said, cracking his sore back.

Shifu groaned. "What do you know? Someone who can give tighter hugs than Po."

"Po?" Siren tilted her head. "Who's that?"

"The Dragon Warrior." Junjie said.

"Oh, cool." Siren shrugged. "Wait a minute, is anyone else in here?"

"Oh, right." Junjie turned to the closet. "Come on out, Fenghuang!" The owl flew out of the closet and landed next to them. "Siren, this is Fenghuang, a friend of ours."

"Pleased to meet you." Siren bowed. She turned excitedly to Shifu. "Hey, is my dad here?"

Shifu shook his head. "No, but he's waiting for us."

Siren's face fell. "Oh." She walked over to her bed and sat down. The three warriors present exchanged looks before walking up to the human.

"Something wrong?" Fenghuang asked.

"No, nothing." Siren shook her head. "I just….was hoping he'd come."

"He's waiting for us now." Junjie reminded her. "Come on, get dressed and we'll take you to him."

"No." Siren said.

There was a stunned silence. "What?" Junjie asked.

"I'm not leaving." Siren said firmly. "I'm staying here."


	16. Chapter Twelve: Captured!

**Chapter Twelve- Captured!**

"Not leaving?" Fenghuang repeated. "Have you lost your mind?"

"I know what I'm doing." Siren assured.

"I don't think you do." Fenghuang protested. "Jiao-long is going to use your powers for destruction!"

"I can hold back my powers to prevent any terrible damage." Siren said. "But Jiao-long and I have an agreement, and I'm true to my word."

"Even if it means China's downfall?" Junjie asked.

"Everything will be fine." Siren assured. "But I can't leave." She lay back on her bed. "You should go before Jiao-long finds you."

"We're not leaving without you." Shifu told her. "I promised Chao I'd bring you home."

Siren sat up, a glare in her eyes. "Why should I care?"

"He's your father." Shifu said.

"Yeah, right." Siren scoffed. "He's also the one who abandoned me."

"He would never-"

"He already has!" Siren shouted. "I went missing for over a year and he never came for me! After he promised he would!" She suddenly grabbed the poster of Chao from her pillow, crumpled it up, and threw it across the room.

"Siren Jin, be still!" Junjie commanded. He started towards her, but Siren shot her hand out. A powerful chi attack sent Junjie flying into the wall. He hit the ground with a _thud_. Fenghuang stood in a fighting stance, but Shifu raised his hand to stop her. The two of them looked around as the room started to change. The walls darkened in color. The lanterns that lit the room dimmed. The colors on the dresses and Siren's paintings faded.

"Siren." He said softly. "Chao sent me to find you. He hasn't given up."

"I don't believe you." Siren snarled. The room was getting colder. Shifu felt ice on his chest. He held the locket tightly.

"Siren, he told me to give this to you." Shifu removed the locket and held it out for the girl.

Siren stared at the necklace. "Where did you get that?" she whispered.

"Chao held onto it." Shifu said. "He told me to find you, return this to you, and bring you home." He placed the locket in Siren's hand. "Two down, one to go."

Siren stared at the necklace. She opened it and looked inside. She looked at her parents' wedding picture, and then at the one of her and her mother. Seeing her mother sparked a flame in Siren's chest. She smiled fondly, hugging the locket to her chest. Suddenly, the room brightened. The lanterns glowed brighter. The colors returned and increased tenfold. A warm breeze blew through the room. Shifu, Junjie, and Fenghuang stood in awe of the change.

"That's why you're not in a prison." Junjie realized. "Jiao-long knows that your mood affects your powers, so he put you in here to keep you happy."

Siren looked up at him. "It doesn't do that much good. I'm not interested in material items. Well, except for the locket, and maybe my favorite panda doll. But you're right; Jiao-long filled this room with luxurious things to keep my mood up."

"All the more reason we should leave." Fenghuang urged. "Jiao-long powers his giant metal contraption with your powers. If you're powers affect things based on your mood, his machine will get more powerful."

"I told you, I'm not leaving." Siren said firmly. "I can tone down my powers and make Jiao-long weaker. Then you can beat him. Or run. One of those two." Siren stood and placed her locket in Shifu's hand. "So you better keep this. I can't afford to have happy memories." She turned to Junjie and Fenghuang. "All of you need to leave. Jiao-long could've heard me shout."

"We won't leave without you." Shifu said. "Chao will never trust me again if I go back without you."

"Can't you understand how worried he is?" Junjie asked. "The only reason he isn't here is because we forced him to stay behind."

Siren snarled. "I don't believe that. I have no father."

The room didn't darken, but the cold breeze returned. Junjie sighed.

"Very well." He nodded. "We'll leave."

"What?" Shifu and Fenghuang asked.

"She won't come." Junjie said. "But she promised to tone her powers down. We have to get back to the army and plan our attack." He opened the door. "You coming?" Fenghuang looked at Siren one last time before walking after him. They disappeared out the door, but Shifu stayed behind. He looked back at Siren, who was on her bed once more. He walked over and picked up the crumpled poster of Chao and walked back to Siren, placing the ball of paper next to her.

"Just think about it a little longer." Shifu urged. "Chao loves you." He gave her hand a squeeze. Siren lunged forward and hugged him again. Shifu returned the hug, trying to think of how he was going to tell Chao the news that his daughter hated him. Siren let go, and Shifu continued to the door. He glanced at Siren one last time before leaving, slowly shutting the door behind him. Siren stared at the door for a moment before picking up the crumpled paper beside her. She opened it and stared at the picture. Siren hugged the poster to her chest, tears streaming down her face.

The room had gone dark and cold.

Shifu rubbed his temples. This was going to be hard to explain to Chao. Shifu shook his head and started down the stairs. A muffled cry made him look up, and he was shocked to see Junjie and Fenghuang, restrained and gagged by a bunch of gorillas. Junjie was trying to warn him, but it was too late. Someone grabbed Shifu's arm and twisted it behind his back. He grunted in pain, but silenced when he felt the cold steel of a blade on his throat.

"If you utter a single noise," Jiao-long hissed in his ear. "I'll kill you."

Shifu glared, shifted his weight, and slammed his heel onto Jiao-long's foot. The Komodo dragon shouted, and Shifu managed to twist around and shove Jiao-long aside. He ran up the stairs to Siren's room, but Jiao-long jumped up and landed on Shifu's back. The red panda's head collided with the steps. Dazed, he fought to stay conscious as Jiao-long pulled his arms back and bound his wrists.

"Shifu?" someone called. Shifu shook his head and tried to shout, but Jiao-long covered his mouth. Siren came bounding down the stairs. Her eyes widened when she saw what was happening.

"What's going on?" Siren demanded.

"Intruders." Jiao-long said casually, forcing Shifu to his feet. "We're taking them to be punished."

"No!" Siren said quickly. "I don't want you to harm them."

"But they are trespassing." Jiao-long protested. "On _my _territory."

"Then imprison them." Siren said. "Keep them in your dungeon for the rest of their miserable lives. But I want them alive and unharmed."

Jiao-long and Siren stared into each other's eyes defiantly. Then, Jiao-long nodded. "Very well. They will be imprisoned for life. No harm will come to them." Siren nodded and gave Shifu a quick glance before going back to her room. Jiao-long roughly shoved Shifu down the stairs behind the guards. Once they were at the bottom of the stairs and out the door, Jiao-long pushed Shifu into another guard.

"Take them to Death Row." Jiao-long ordered. "I'll personally execute them at sunrise tomorrow."

"You promised Siren we wouldn't be harmed!" Shifu snapped, struggling against his restraints.

"I 'promised' that girl many things." Jiao-long mocked. "Unlike you, Grandmaster, I am not honor-bound to my promises. Foolish old man." He waved his hand and walked off. "Take them away."

Shifu, Junjie, and Fenghuang were dragged down to the dungeon and thrown into a cell on Death Row. Shackles chained to the wall were clamped on tight. The guards slammed the door shut and walked off. Fenghuang, in anger, lunged for the doors. But the shackles around her ankle stopped her flight short. Shifu also had a shackle on his ankle, which made it all the more difficult to sit up, adding on with his bound wrists.

Junjie gave a futile tug at his wrist shackle. "Well this is a fine mess we've gotten into."

"We aren't giving up." Shifu declared. He tried to pull his hands free, to no avail. Fenghuang walked over to him and sliced the ropes away. Shifu rubbed his sore wrists.

"What can we do?" Junjie demanded. "We didn't think ahead. Siren won't leave this place. Jiao-long will crush the army." He sighed. "It's hopeless."

"Now what kind of attitude is that?" Fenghuang snapped. "We have until sunrise to figure a way out of here. Moreover, we're supposed to be this great trio of warriors. And you think it's hopeless?"

"I'm starting to."

The three of them spun around to the cell next to them. A cage was on the floor, and a familiar green bug could be seen.

"Mantis?" Shifu asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Chao sent me to follow you." Mantis explained. "He didn't want anything to happen to you. But I had to find another way in, and I ended up captured." He sighed. "I'm sorry, Master."

"There's nothing to be sorry about." Shifu assured. "We'll get out of here somehow."

"And how exactly will we do that, Grandmaster?" Junjie mocked.

"What's with the formalities?" Fenghuang asked.

"Well, he's the Grandmaster of the Jade Palace." Junjie continued with his mocking tone. "Obviously he'll come up with some genius plan."

"What does me being Grandmaster have to do with anything right now?" Shifu demanded.

"You ought to know." Junjie turned to walk away, but Shifu looped his chain around the fox's ankle and pulled. Junjie ended up on his stomach.

"What is your problem?" Shifu growled. "You haven't acted like this since we were children. One minute, you're perfectly normal, and then you're mad at me for no reason!"

"I'm never mad at you without a reason." Junjie protested.

"Then what's the reason now?" Shifu asked.

Junjie glared hard. There was a tense silence. Fenghuang stepped between the two of them.

"Look, I think we're all just overtired." She said. "I say we get some sleep. We'll make sure to wake up before sunrise and attack the guards when they come to get us. Then we'll make a break for it."

No one said anything. Shifu and Junjie walked to separate corners. Fenghuang perched herself near the door and shut her eyes for a nap. Mantis curled up to sleep as well. Shifu stayed awake, glancing at Junjie from time to time. The fox's back was to him, making it hard to tell if he was awake or not. After who knows how long, Shifu decided to lie down to sleep. Before he could, Junjie spoke.

"Why you?" he whispered.

Shifu sat up and looked towards Junjie. The fox was leaning against the wall, a tired look in his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Shifu asked.

"Why were you chosen?" Junjie repeated. "Why did Oogway choose you over me?"

"Not sure." Shifu shrugged. "I can only guess Oogway's reasoning for his judgment, and I'm sure I'd get it wrong the first few times."

Junjie shook his head. "You don't understand."

"Then let me ask you this: why did _you _want to be the Grandmaster?"

"It's not that I just wanted to be the Grandmaster." Junjie said. "I wanted to be Grandmaster _with_ you." He sighed. "Remember when we were kids? How much fun we used to have? I never had a family, Shifu. You, Oogway, and even Chao were my family. Chao was meant to be Hierarch of the Sacred Onyx Council. But I wanted us to be the Grandmasters of the Jade Palace. You were always there when I need you, and I wanted to return the favor. We used to talk about what we would do once we were the masters.

"But all that changed. Oogway said _you _would be the only Grandmaster. I couldn't stand being at the palace anymore, so I left for the Sacred Onyx Council with Chao. The entire time, I was thinking what I could've done differently. Maybe I wasn't strong enough. Maybe we weren't at the same level of kung fu; you must've been better than I was. No matter what happened, you did something Oogway liked. Or I did something he didn't like." Junjie looked away. "I'm a failure."

Shifu's ears dipped. He thought back to all the times he and Junjie got in and out of trouble. How Junjie always looked to Shifu as a brother. Now that he thought about it, why did Oogway only choose him? What could Junjie be destined for that required him to leave? Surely Junjie was resentful until that day Oogway chose the next Grandmaster. Shifu tried to think about what to say. He was never good at talking like this.

"You're not a failure." Shifu started. He racked his brain for something else to say. Then, something popped in his head. "Didn't Jien tell you about another prophecy?"

Junjie nodded and pulled out a piece of paper. He showed its contents to Shifu, who read it aloud.

"'A great battle draws near. The Tri-Dragon of Death must rise again. When Siren Jin has finished her battle, the Tri-Dragon of Death must take her place to destroy the threat. And in China's greatest time of need, only one side will rise victorious.'" Shifu looked up at Junjie. "This is why you went for the book."

"Yes." Junjie nodded. "I didn't understand why Jien gave me the prophecy until I found the book with us in it."

"Then that's why." Shifu said. "You don't need to be Grandmaster; you're a Dragon of Death. If Po were here, he'd be geeking out."

Junjie cracked a smile. "He's pretty good at that."

Shifu chuckled. "Being Grandmaster isn't that fun, anyhow. You have no idea how many people try and kill you for your position. Like Fenghuang."

"I heard that." Fenghuang called.

Junjie laughed. "Well, I guess that is a perk." Junjie chuckled to himself.

"What?" Shifu asked.

"Nothing." Junjie shook his head. "But for some reason I'm thinking about when Chao first saw Ren."

"You mean how you kept singing, 'Chao has a girlfriend' over and over again?" Shifu clarified. "And Chao kept chasing you around the palace?"

They laughed like old friends. Junjie yawned. "Alright, I'm going to sleep. We've gotta bust out of here tomorrow."

Shifu rolled his eyes. But his smile disappeared. "What do we tell Chao?" Too late. Junjie was snoring. Shifu shook his head and lay down to sleep.

Hours later, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his stomach. Groaning, he sat up to see who had rudely waked him up. Jiao-long was in their cell, moving on to kick Junjie and Fenghuang awake.

"For the sake of the gods!" Fenghuang hissed. "What's wrong with you?"

"Time for your execution." Jiao-long said.

"You said sunrise." Junjie grunted. "It's the middle of the night."

"Just get up!" Jiao-long snarled. A guard came in and unlocked Shifu's shackle. Before he could slap on more chains, Shifu shot his fist out and into the guard's throat. The guard gagged, and Shifu jumped up to kick him back out the door. Shifu jumped towards Jiao-long. The lizard swiped his hand across Shifu's face, sending him to the floor. Before he could rise, Jiao-long slammed the hilt of his sword into his head, knocking him out cold.

_STAR STAR STAR STAR STAR_

Siren woke up in the middle of the night, panting and sweating from her nightmare. She breathed deeply and sighed.

"I have to see them." She stood and quickly dressed in a simple red cheongsam before running down the stairs. She passed by a guard along the way.

"Where are the dungeons?" she asked.

The guard gave her directions. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm going to visit the prisoners." She said simply before running off. She arrived at the door that said "Dungeons" and stopped. Would they forgive her for what she's done? How could they? She was really stupid for what she did. Why didn't she tell Jiao-long to immediately set them free? Siren sighed and walked in. She walked into the main cell door. "Shifu? Junjie? I'm here to apologize. I was mad and wasn't thinking straight. I want to tell you the real reason I'm not leaving." Silence. "Junjie? Shifu?" Siren ran up one row of cells, then the other, but there was no sign of the masters. "Where are they?"

When Shifu woke up, his hands were chained above his head and the chain was attached to a post. Junjie was a couple feet away from him, his hands chained the same way. Fenghuang was on the other side of Junjie hanging upside-down with her feet chained to the post. As an extra precaution, her wings were tied to her sides. In front of them, standing next to a ledge, was Jiao-long. He was looking out at the land, staring down at his castle. It was then that Shifu realized they were on the mountain. The sky was getting lighter.

"The sun will be rising soon." Jiao-long said gleefully. "I always thought moments like this were meant to be savored. Therefore, I have decided the three of you will die one at a time." Jiao-long turned to them. A wicked sharp dagger was in his hand. The three masters glared at him. "So, who would like to die first, hmm? You'll have a few minutes to think. The sun doesn't rise for a little longer, and I always like to be punctual."

"Why don't you just jump off a cliff?" Fenghuang hissed. Jiao-long's smile disappeared. He walked up to the owl and knelt down to see her face better. Jiao-long examined her for a moment.

"You're a tough one." He mused. "I'd kill you first, but I also have a desire to test how strong you are." Jiao-long moved on to Junjie. "You're pretty strong as well. But I can see something. Yes, you were scarred a long time ago; perhaps by your family. You obviously look to _someone _as your family." Jiao-long looked over at Shifu and smiled. "Perfect." He stood up straight and walked over to Shifu, placing the tip of his dagger under the master's chin. "Let's see how strong you two _really _are." Jiao-long flipped the dagger around and thrust it forward.

Siren's eyes widened in realization and she ran into the Death Row chambers. She ran up one side and the other, but the masters were gone. But another prisoner was there.

"Please!" she asked the praying mantis in the cage. "Where are Masters Shifu, Junjie, and Fenghuang?"

"Jiao-long took them to the mountain to kill them!" the bug said. "At sunrise, they're going to- hey where are you going?"

Jiao-long grunted with pain as Junjie's foot collided with his stomach. The Komodo dragon bounced back and dug his claws into the rock to avoid falling off the edge. Junjie pressed something into Shifu's hand.

"Can you pick the lock?" he asked.

Shifu looked up at the hairpin in his hand. "Yes, but-" Junjie was already gone, attacking Jiao-long as the lizard rose. Shifu looked over at where Junjie had been chained and saw the shackles unlocked Shifu desperately tried to pick the lock on his own shackles. Junjie punched and kicked, dodging Jiao-long's dagger before it could cut him. Jiao-long's anger rose as he attacked, snarling whenever he missed.

Then, Junjie slipped on a patch of mud. He almost slid off the edge of the cliff, but caught onto a rock. Jiao-long started towards him, but turned and saw Shifu trying to pick the lock on his chain. Furious, Jiao-long lunged with his dagger ready to strike.

Shifu desperately tried to hurry, but it did him no good. He braced himself for the cold steel.

There was the sound of steel puncturing flesh, and someone grunted in shock and pain.

The sun was rising.


	17. Chapter Thirteen: Of Siren and Chao

**Chapter Thirteen- Of Siren and Chao**

Shifu opened his eyes and saw Junjie standing in front of him.

Jiao-long pulled his knife free and Junjie fell to the ground, clutching his bleeding chest. Shifu finally heard the _click _of his chains being released and gave Jiao-long a hard kick to the shin. While the lizard was distracted, Shifu grabbed Jiao-long's shirt and threw him into the mountain wall. Shifu knelt next to Junjie.

"Junjie?" he whispered. "What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't." Junjie coughed, cracking a smile.

Shifu shook his head. "Just stay still. You'll be fine."

Jiao-long hissed from where he was. Fuming, he advanced towards the two masters, his dagger gripped tightly in his hand. Blood dripped from the blade; Junjie's blood. Shifu immediately stood protectively in front of the fox, glaring hard.

"Pathetic." Jiao-long laughed. He held the dagger high and brought it down fast.

Shifu was prepared to dodge and attack, but the knife was too fast. It connected with his head before he could move.

No, it connected with some invisible force field and shattered. Jiao-long jumped back in fear.

"Jiao-long!"

Everyone turned and saw Siren standing on the ledge. Even with her angel-like appearance, she looked ready to kill a certain reptile. Siren stomped towards said reptile, who backed up fearfully.

"S-Siren!" Jiao-long stuttered. "I w-was simply t-trying to….uh…..make you stronger! Yes! By sacrificing these warriors, your powers will increase a hundredfold!"

Siren grabbed Jiao-long by the throat to make him stop talking. "No amount of power is worth taking someone's life." She growled. She threw him to the ground before turning to walk back to Junjie and Shifu. She knelt next to Junjie and rolled him to his back, placing a hand over his wound. "Hold still; this may sting just a little." Siren took a breath. Shifu watched in amazement as her bright green irises turned pure white. Her hand glowed. Junjie grit his teeth against the pain, but it was gone as quick as it had come. Siren sighed and took her hand away, her eyes returning to normal. Junjie sat up and felt where the wound was. Except, it wasn't there. Even the blood stains were gone.

"How did you do that?" Junjie whispered.

Siren shrugged. "My powers are always surprising me. Even I can't explain it." She stood, turned, and glared and Jiao-long. "You will release Fenghuang immediately. Then I'm going to escort these three out of here and you will not touch them. There's also a praying mantis on Death Row that I want you to free along with them."

"But I-" Jiao-long protested.

Siren raised a hand threateningly. "Now, or I'll make you spontaneously combust!" Jiao-long nodded quickly, freed Fenghuang, and ran down the mountain to the dungeons.

"Could you really make him burst into flames?" Shifu asked.

"I think so." Siren nodded. "It's hard to explain how I control my powers."

"We should go." Fenghuang said. "I want to leave here as soon as possible. Shall we fly?"

"No way." Siren shook her head. "Besides, we aren't that far up." Rather than argue, the three warriors followed the girl down the trail.

"How did you do it?" Junjie asked as they walked. "It's like the wound was never there."

"Like I said, it's hard to explain." Siren said. "While I was gone, I practiced using my powers. I always knew there was something different about me. Really, all I do is concentrate on what I want to happen. The rest kinda flows….naturally, I guess?"

"Nothing about your powers is natural." Junjie laughed. "You saved my life."

"Don't worry about it." Siren said. "I look out for my family." They arrived at the gate of the castle. Jiao-long was waiting with Mantis in his cage.

"Here's your friend." Jiao-long said. "Now out!" He threw the cage to Shifu, who caught it easily. He opened the door to the cage to let Mantis out.

"Can we have a minute?" Siren asked. Jiao-long glared at the warriors, but nodded. He walked out of earshot, but not eyesight.

"Let's run now." Fenghuang urged. "Come with us, Siren."

Siren shook her head. She looked down at Shifu. "Shifu, I want you to tell my dad that you didn't fail. Tell him about what happened. And tell him that I'm sorry. For everything." Siren walked off, the gate to the castle closing. The four warriors stared for a moment.

"She said her father." Junjie said. "She didn't say 'Tell Chao'."

"She still cares." Shifu nodded. "Let's go." The four of them ran off.

Siren walked back to Jiao-long. "They're gone. Now leave them alone." She walked past him, aimed for her room.

"Siren." Jiao-long called. "If the army attacks, I will have no choice but to fight back."

"Just remember our deal." Siren said simply.

Chao paced back and forth across the ground. The sun had risen already and Shifu, Junjie, Fenghuang, and Mantis couldn't be found. But something held him back from calling someone to find them.

"They here yet?" Po asked.

"Not yet." Chao shook his head. "But they should-" Then, he noticed three shapes in the distance. "They're here!"

Shifu, Junjie, Fenghuang, and Mantis slowed as the approached the camp. Chao and Po ran up to them excitedly. But Chao's face fell. "Where's Siren?"

Junjie gently touched his chest, where his fatal wound had been healed. Fenghuang hung her head. Shifu was the only one to speak. "Chao, we need to talk." He motioned for him to follow. Chao was confused, but obeyed. Mantis, Junjie and Fenghuang joined Po as they went back to the camp. Shifu led Chao through the forest a ways from the camp. They only stopped when the camp was barely seen through the trees. Shifu sighed and told Chao about what had happened at the castle. Chao listened silently, trying to absorb everything carefully and register it through his brain. When Shifu finished, he finally turned to Chao with a solemn look.

"She wanted me to tell you she was sorry." Shifu finished. "For everything. Does that mean anything to you?"

Chao shook his head slowly. "She hates me."

"She wouldn't apologize if she hated you." Shifu assured. "I'm sure she's just trying to keep you safe, so she's trying to drive you away."

"But why else would she not leave the castle?" Chao asked.

"She said something about an agreement between her and Jiao-long." Shifu shrugged. "I'm sure she's just trying to do the right thing. You've taught her well."

Chao scoffed. "Oh yes, I must've taught her _very _well." He rubbed his temples and started pacing. "She wasn't taken; she obviously heard about Jiao-long and ran away to go after him. Then her plan went wrong. No, maybe she found something and got scared. Or maybe Jiao-long threatened her! She could be in danger right now and it's my fault!"

"Chao, what on earth makes you say that?" Shifu asked.

"Because I couldn't protect her!" Chao shouted. He spun around and punched a hole clean through nearest tree. He stomped towards Jiao-long's castle.

"Where are you going?" Shifu asked worriedly, trailing after him.

"I'm going to find Jiao-long and tear him scale from scale." Chao said. "Nobody touches _my _daughter."

"Chao, you can't just run into this." Shifu tried to step in front of Chao, but he was pushed aside. "Jiao-long knows Siren cares about you and he wants you dead anyhow."

"I don't care." Chao growled. Shifu frowned, grabbed Chao's sleeve, and promptly threw the lizard master into a tree. Chao glared hard and stood, brushing himself off. "I hope you have a very good reason for doing that."

"I'm trying to protect you from getting killed." Shifu said. "And apparently that was the only way to get your attention." Chao opened his mouth to speak, but Shifu cut him off. "I told you I would bring her home. I know where she is and I intend to go back and find her. I'm going to try and get her to come home, but I can't have you running off on a suicidal mission. Besides, if Siren really is trying to drive you away to keep you safe, then I don't want her to go through the suffering she'll experience telling you off."

Chao looked down at the ground. His claws dug into the ground in frustration. Then he sighed. "I just want her home. She's all I have." He closed his eyes, as though trying to suppress bad memories. "Ren died, remember? She died, and I wasn't even there with her. Siren is _my _child. I can't lose her."

Shifu turned and looked towards the castle. He thought about Siren, alone, but not afraid. She was smart. She was brave. Siren could do anything. Literally, considering the powers she has. And she was kind, just like her mother; kind enough to be willing to do anything to keep her family safe. But now, she only had a father. That's her only family.

Shifu blinked. "No….."

Chao opened his eyes. "What?"

Shifu turned to him. "I'm going back. I'm going to find Siren and try one more time to get her out. I think I know what to say."

"Let me come." Chao insisted. "I want to see her."

"I know." Shifu nodded in understanding. "But please let me talk to her first. I need you to trust me."

Chao didn't look so happy about it, but nodded. "Fine. Just tell me what to do."

"Just make sure the army is ready to attack at any given moment." Shifu ordered. "No matter what happens, we're going to finish this." Chao nodded and walked off. Shifu sprinted off in the other direction. Soon, though, he felt a pair of talons catch his sleeves and lift him into the air. He looked up and saw Fenghuang with Junjie on her back.

"Need a lift?" Fenghuang smirked.

"What are you doing?" Shifu demanded. "Put me down and go back."

"Not a chance." Junjie said. "We know you're going after Siren and we're coming with you."

"Junjie-"

"We're supposed to be the Tri-Dragon of Death." Junjie interrupted. "That makes us a team. That means we fight together and we stay together." He pulled Shifu up. "Under normal circumstances, I would never say that. But these aren't normal circumstances."

Shifu rolled his eyes and smirked. "Fenghuang, fly fast. We have to get to Siren immediately."

"Just hang on." Fenghuang ordered. She flapped her wings harder as they sped off. They reached Jiao-long's castle in minutes. Fenghuang ducked behind some trees right outside the gates. The courtyard and the walls were bare; not a soul could be seen.

"Where is everyone?" Fenghuang asked. "It looks like a ghost town."

"No idea." Shifu shook his head. "But I have a bad feeling about it."

"On the bright side, we can probably sneak right in." Junjie said.

"No, fly up to Siren's window." Shifu ordered. "The guards are probably inside the castle." Fenghuang obeyed, staying close to the tower in case someone saw them. She hovered right in front of the window as Shifu and Junjie jumped off. They parted the curtains and saw Siren on her bed, singing to herself as she braided her long hair. She was in her black hooded cape, black pants, and her favorite sky-blue vest with the jade trim. Junjie yawned, but shook his head to stay awake.

Siren turned to him and laughed. "Maybe I shouldn't be singing with you in the room."

Junjie smiled. "You look and sound more and more like your mother every day."

Siren gave a sad smile. "That's what Master Oogway always said. I remember how I kept looking in the mirror to see the resemblance. I always denied that I looked like my mom."

"You always said your mother was prettier." Junjie smirked.

Siren laughed. "Yep. But now, I look in the mirror…." Her smile disappeared. "I see my mom. How she looked before I never saw her again."

"How did she die?" Fenghuang asked. Shifu elbowed the owl.

"No, it's ok." Siren assured. "She was taken from me. When I was six, she and my stepdad got into an argument. We were driving home from school. Mom was telling my stepdad to slow down; we must've been going pretty fast, but I couldn't tell. I could see another car speeding down the road right towards us. I tried to tell my stepdad to stop, but he only shouted at me. My mom punched him. Then, the other car crashed into us. My stepdad got some pretty serious injuries and I got a concussion. But Mom died instantly." A tear fell from Siren's eyes. "I wish Mom had stayed here, in this world. Maybe then we would be here. Chao is the only real family I have."

"What about us?" Shifu asked. "Me and Junjie? You grew up in the palace along with us. I can remember you constantly tugging at my ears because you were fascinated by how big they were." Siren giggled a little. "You look to us like a family, right?" Siren thought for a moment, and then nodded. "Then you can't say your father is the only family you have."

Siren turned and smiled. "Thanks. But I'm afraid you coming here is a waste of time." She stood up and walked to them. "I know you want me safe. And I know you want to bring me home. But I can't; my being here is the only way to keep you safe."

"Jiao-long will kill us anyway." Fenghuang protested.

"He fears me." Siren said. "Besides, you guys have an army of your own, right? He can't win against you."

"How do you know that?" Shifu asked.

"I watched you guys fight." Siren replied. "Jiao-long's men don't stand a chance. You should go. Jiao-long is going to send his troops out to take China, and you need to stop him."

"Siren, are you really going to go through with this?" Shifu asked. "If we fail, China will fall."

"You won't fail." Siren assured. "I know you won't. Now go. I have to get ready. You have to warn your army and meet Jiao-long's army before he moves out."

Suddenly, there was the whistling sound of a firework being set off. The four of them ran to the window and leaned out to see fireworks being shot into the sky. Underneath the bursting colors was the Rebel Army. Taotie was at the controls of his machine, recently fixed, and was launching fireworks into the sky.

"Hey Jiao-long!" He shouted. "Why don't you come out and stop being a wimpy little lizard!"

Jiao-long walked out into the courtyard. His robes had been freshly washed and his sword was at his hip. "Do you honestly believe you can defeat my army?" he called out. "You're, what, a half dozen warriors and a hunk of wood? What chance do you have?" His men suddenly came pouring out in the courtyard, their numbers far greater than the Rebel Army's.

"A pretty good one!" Su shouted. "Considering our friends." Then, figures came from the trees. Clouded leopards, rhinos, water buffalos, and more, led by a familiar desert monitor.

"Chao?" Shifu asked.

"Daddy?" Siren whispered.

"Surrender now, Jiao-long." Chao ordered. "And surrender Siren Jin. Do as I say and I promise not to kill you."

Jiao-long laughed and drew his sword. "You're a foolish old man. The Siren's Gem is mine, and you will fall." He pointed his sword towards the armies. "Men, kill them all!" The army of gorillas and elephants charged forward.

"Stay strong!" Chao ordered. "Let's finish this!" The Jade Palace and Rebel Armies surged forward, ready as they've ever been. The two armies clashed in a flurry of fur, claws, and miscellaneous sharp objects. Chao fought his way until he reached Jiao-long. Chao glared hard. "Where's Siren?"

"You mean the Siren's Gem?" Jiao-long repeated. "That's none of your concern."

"Let her go." Chao ordered. "Or you'll answer to me."

Jiao-long twirled his sword around. "You think I'm afraid of you?" Chao drew his own sword, a beautiful, silver bladed jian with a red ribbon tied to the hilt. Jiao-long frowned. "I see. Well t hen, let's see how well the great Master Oogway has taught you." Jiao-long made the first move, lunging with this sword. Chao instinctively sidestepped and swung his jian towards Jiao-long's head. The Komodo dragon ducked and hissed as he went for another attack.

"That's my dad." Siren whispered. She suddenly got excited. "That's my dad!"

"We have to get down there." Junjie urged. "They'll need our help!"

"Siren." Shifu turned to the girl. "Please come help us."

Before Siren could answer, there was the sound of heavy footsteps. Siren pushed Junjie and Shifu under her bed and Fenghuang under her desk. She rushed to the door as a gorilla forcefully opened it.

"Haven't you ever heard of privacy?" Siren snapped.

"We need your help!" the gorilla said hurriedly. "We must go power the machine." He grabbed Siren's arm and started dragging her away. Siren pulled herself free and followed the gorilla, shutting the door behind him. Shifu, Junjie, and Fenghuang emerged from their hiding spots.

"Now what?" Junjie asked.

"We go fight." Shifu said, running to the window. Junjie grabbed his wrist.

"Are you crazy?" he snapped. "Siren's power makes Jiao-long's death machine come to life! We have to find her and stop her!"

"But they need us down there!" Shifu protested. "You go find Siren and stop her, but I'm going down there."

"But you-"

Fenghuang suddenly lunged forward and grabbed both of the boys' arms in her foot. Instantly, glowing Chinese dragons appeared. The marks of the Tri-Dragon of Death.

"Are you forgetting already?" Fenghuang asked. "We're a Tri-Dragon of Death; a team. We stay together; we fight together."

Shifu and Junjie exchanged looks.


	18. Chapter Fourteen:And So It Ends, Right?

**Chapter Fourteen- And So It Ends, Right?**

There was no reason to worry about archers. All of Jiao-long's men were fighting the two armies that had attacked. Song and Su led the Ladies of the Shade together, all the while fighting off their enemies that kept advancing with spears, axes, and hammers. Temutai's horns were enough to break many of his opponents' skulls. Peng was like a pinball, jumping from guard to guard as each one fell to his strength. The Furious Five worked in unison, focusing on the elephant guards, who were the larger of the two species that attacked them. Po stayed side-by-side with the Mongolian Fist Demon, who kept growing every time a gorilla landed a punch. Taotie threw out everything his machine had to offer to keep the enemy army at bay. Every single warrior fought with everything they had, each only thinking: we will win this.

Chao and Jiao-long were in the fight of their lives. Anyone who watched could clearly see both were experienced swordsmen. Every time their blades connected, the force sent sparks flying. Both were driven by anger: Jiao-long for Chao's interferences and Chao for his daughter being taken. Yet no matter how hard each opponent tried, not a single mark could be made on either of them.

While Po was distracted with taking down an elephant, a gorilla snuck up on him with an axe raised. Po turned just as the blade came down and flinched. But before the ape could move, there was a screech, and he ended up on the ground, unconscious. Po looked up to see Fenghuang on top of the ape. Shifu and Junjie leaped off her back and rushed into battle.

"Try not to die, huh?" Fenghuang suggested as she moved on to fight. Po smiled and kept fighting. Shifu jumped over a guard's head and landed next to the Five.

"Where's Chao?" he asked quickly.

"Fighting Jiao-long still." Tigress said as she punched a guard. "I'd stay away from them if I were you."

"Stay on your toes." Shifu ordered. "I think we're winning."

Suddenly, the ground shook. The doors to the castle were destroyed as Jiao-long's giant metal machine came rolling out.

"Or not." Mantis squeaked.

Jiao-long and Chao turned, their battle paused, to stare at the machine. Jiao-long smirked and sheathed his sword. "Follow me if you dare." He taunted as he turned and ran to the machine. Chao put his jian away and sprinted after him. Shifu saw this and followed. Junjie and Fenghuang were behind him. Suddenly, Fenghuang grabbed the fox and red panda in her talons and lifted them into the air, just as Taotie came barreling past in his machine. Fenghuang landed inside.

"Taotie, wait!" Shifu warned. "Chao's following him to the machine!"

"Don't worry about it." Taotie said. "I'm going to show what a true machine can do!"

"Just be careful!" Junjie snapped. "Get us as close as you can and we'll follow Jiao-long!" Taotie nodded and surged his machine forward. Chao was right on Jiao-long's tail as the Komodo dragon disappeared into the machine. Chao managed to get in just as the metal and Taotie's machines clashed. Junjie, Shifu, and Fenghuang were thrown to the floor upon impact. Inside the metal machine, Chao found that Jiao-long had disappeared. But there were two other gorillas there along with the one at the controls.

Shifu was thrown backwards once more as the two machines clashed. "Can't you get us in without getting us killed?"

"I'm trying!" Taotie grunted as his machine took another hit. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm fighting something three times my machine's size!"

"Then we need a new plan." Junjie said. "We'll get to the ground and climb in; they'll never see us coming."

"Then let's go!" Fenghuang urged. "Quickly!" The three of them went out the backside of Taotie's machine and ran around. Shifu suddenly stopped and looked around.

They were losing. Many members of the Ladies of the Shade had to resort to hand-to-hand combat since their parasols were broken beyond usage. Jong and Temutai's warriors had to join together just to prevent from being killed. Even the Mongolian Fist Demon was getting tired; he was covered in scratches. The rest of the warriors, the Five, Scorpion, Tong Fo, Peng, Hundun, Po, etc, were fighting for their lives.

"Shifu, come on!" Junjie shouted. "We have worse things to worry about."

"But they-"

"Will be fine." Junjie assured. "We have to find Siren and beat Jiao-long." Shifu looked back at his students worriedly, but followed Junjie to the metal machine. Fenghuang was already there.

"There's a door here!" she called. "We can get in!" Junjie and Shifu jumped up as Fenghuang opened the door. The three of them slipped in and Fenghuang shut the door. They stopped as the room became pitch black.

"Nice going." Junjie muttered. "I can't see a thing!"

"Sorry." Fenghuang shrugged (unseen). "Follow me."

"Ouch!" Shifu recoiled. "That was my foot!"

Fenghuang apologized again, but pressed forward. Eventually, she hit another door and kicked it open. Now that they could see, Junjie and Shifu could follow Fenghuang out. They found themselves in a room full of arrows, flammable oil, and shurikens.

"This must be the storage room." Fenghuang said. "We're either at or near the bottom of the machine."

"Then we need to get up to where Chao is." Shifu said. He found a door nearby and shoved it open. Unfortunately, a gorilla was on the other side. Shifu ducked as the ape swung his fist towards him. Fenghuang launched a Thundering Wind Hammer at the ape, and he went flying into a wall. The machine tilted for a moment before crashing back to the ground.

"Now we know how to take it down." Fenghuang noted.

"Let's find Chao first." Shifu ran up the couple stairs that led to the ladder and started climbing. Junjie and Fenghuang were right behind him. They passed one more floor (it was filled with gorillas that, thankfully, didn't notice them) before reaching the control room. One gorilla was at the controls, another was knocked out on the ground, and a third was fighting Chao. Junjie and Fenghuang rushed forward and kicked the gorilla away.

"Go find Jiao-long!" Junjie ordered. "We'll take care of this!" Shifu nodded and pulled Chao away. The two of them went back to the ladder.

"Where could he be?" Shifu asked. "We were just downstairs and didn't see him."

"Then we go up." Chao said. He started climbing as fast as he could, Shifu behind him. Chao reached a trapdoor and shoved it open, jumping up inside. He pulled Shifu up with him. The top floor was a bare room of metal except for the metal box against one wall. Chao and Shifu warily walked up to it. There was a slot near the top, and a light could be seen coming from inside. Chao was about to look through when a cruel voice said, "Don't even think about it." Chao and Shifu whipped around and saw Jiao-long on the other side of the room.

"I can't let you win." Jiao-long said. "Leave or die; your choice." Chao drew his sword. Shifu stood defensively. Jiao-long sighed. "Very well." He pulled out his sword and readied it. "Let's see how long you last."

He lunged.

Outside, Taotie was struggling to salvage his machine from the fury of his metal opponent. The rest of the army was falling back.

"I don't know how much more of this we can take!" Po cried. He kicked a guard's spear away as Tigress leaped over his head to deliver a kick.

"I know." Tigress nodded. "But we have to keep fighting!"

"That metal deathtrap will kill us!" Po whined.

"I refuse to back down over some stupid hunk of metal!" Tigress hissed. "We can do this!"

"How can you be sure?" Po asked.

"Just trust me!" Tigress roared as she barreled into more guards. "We can beat these losers!" Her encouraging words gave the army a newfound energy, and they pushed forward.

In Jiao-long's machine, Chao and Shifu were fighting hard against Jiao-long. The Komodo dragon hissed every time he missed, which unfortunately was often. Chao was the only one that could really land an attack with his jian. Jiao-long relied heavily on his sword and chi attacks. His chi attacks were the reason Shifu was constantly being blasted into the walls. Chao kept looking at the box against the wall. There was something about it that made him uneasy. What exactly was inside?

It was his next look that really distracted him, and Jiao-long was able to get a significant hit in; he slammed the hilt of his sword across Chao's face. He went sprawling onto the floor. Jiao-long moved in for a final move, but Shifu kicked his sword out of his hands. Jiao-long hissed.

"You really think you two can stop me?" he laughed. "You're pathetic. I have the advantage, so why are you still fighting me?"

"I won't let you get away with what you've done." Shifu said firmly. "I'm going to make sure you are defeated."

Jiao-long laughed again, only to be cut off by Shifu's foot to his stomach. Chao was on his feet again, his jian in his hand. He ran towards Jiao-long and swung his jian around. Jiao-long ducked and swung his tail to swipe Chao off his feet. Chao jumped to avoid it. Jiao-long tackled Chao, grabbing him by the shirt and slamming him into the wall. He clutched Chao's throat and threw him into the metal box. Chao's head hit the corner, and he slumped to the floor. Shifu was quick to put himself between Jiao-long and Chao. Jiao-long growled and took up his sword once more, his focus completely on the red panda. He swung his sword with such force that, after Shifu dodge it and rolled away, it became embedded in the metal box. Shifu scooped up Chao's jian and held it ready as Jiao-long pulled his sword free.

"You're really coming at me with that?" Jiao-long scoffed. "Are you really as good of a swordsman as Chao?"

"Not a chance." Shifu admitted. Jiao-long lunged, but he was knocked aside. "But I'm good enough."

Jiao-long growled and lunged once more. The two blades clashed with a metallic ring. Shifu swung the jian and left a small cut on Jiao-long's cheek. After that, he had to constantly block Jiao-long's attack as the lizard's anger flared. Jiao-long's attacks got more and more brutal.

"You're weak." Jiao-long hissed. He knocked the jian from Shifu's hands and kicked the master into the metal box. Before he could rise, Jiao-long suddenly slammed a foot on Shifu's tail and put the tip of his sword to his throat. "You cared about that Siren girl, didn't you? You were willing to do whatever it took to protect her." Shifu glared, but didn't say a word. "No, there's more to it; you made a promise." Jiao-long looked over at Chao, still unconscious. He laughed low. "You promised her father you'd protect her. How does it feel, Grandmaster, to know that you won't live to keep that promise?" Jiao-long raised his sword to bring it down on Shifu's head.

_Clang!_

Shifu looked up and saw Chao, on his feet, with his jian between Jiao-long's sword and Shifu's head.

"Get away from him." Chao spun and kicked Jiao-long away. He rushed forward to attack. Shifu clutched his tail, which thankfully wasn't broken. He was about to help Chao when he felt something freezing cold through is robes. He turned to the box and placed a hand on it, only to bring it back quickly. It was so cold, like it was middle the winter.

"Siren….." he whispered. He stood and tried to find a way inside. But there was nothing that he could see; no door and no window save for the slot only Mantis or Viper could fit through. He kept looking and saw the front of the box wasn't fully bolted shut. He needed something to pry it open.

Like a sword.

Shifu turned and saw Jiao-long and Chao fighting fiercely. Their swords sent sparks flying. Shifu waited for an opening and ran forward, aiming a kick to Jiao-long' back. Unfortunately, the Komodo dragon saw him coming, and ducked. Jiao-long punched Chao and sent him staggering back before running towards Shifu. The red panda waited until the last second to jump and kick Jiao-long's hands, sending his sword skidding away. Jiao-long swung his sharp claws, missing Shifu by centimeters. Jiao-long kept swiping his claws at both Shifu and Chao, aimed to kill.

It was Shifu who made the first mistake. He took a hit and dropped his stance. Jiao-long saw an opportunity, grabbed Shifu, and threw him into Chao. The two of them slammed into a wall and almost fell down the trapdoor to the ladder. Jiao-long jumped towards them. Chao and Shifu dived in separate directions and Jiao-long did a face plant into the wall before falling down the trapdoor. Chao shut the door quick.

"I think Siren's here." Shifu panted.

Chao looked shocked but happy at the same time. "Where?"

"In that box." Shifu nodded towards said box. "We have to pry open the front." The two of them rushed to the box. Chao found and opening and stuck his jian in between. He pulled as hard as he could, but the door wouldn't budge. Chao banged on the metal with his fist.

"Siren!" he called. "Are you in there?"

"Why won't she answer?" Shifu murmured. The door to the stairs was being hit. Jiao-long was obviously trying to get in, but Chao had locked the door.

"How long will that lock hold?" Chao asked. There was a cracking sound as the door was continuously banged on.

"Not that long." Shifu said. "Keep trying!" But no matter how hard they tried, it wouldn't move.

Suddenly, Shifu noticed Jiao-long sneaking behind Chao with his sword. Shifu ran forward and tackled Jiao-long. Hissing, the Komodo dragon lifted Shifu by the throat and thrust him into the wall. Jiao-long held his sword ready to kill him. Chao pulled his jian free and ran forward, holding his blade ready to cut through Jiao-long.

Jiao-long smirked. He dropped Shifu and spun around, pushing his sword through Chao's heart.

Chao gasped in pain. His jian slipped out of his hands and clattered to the floor. Jiao-long smiled evilly and yanked his sword from Chao's chest. The lizard master fell to the floor, clutching his chest in pain. Shifu had been staring with shock and finally came to his senses, rushing to kneel next to Chao. He immediately put pressure against the wound, desperately trying to stop the bleeding. Jiao-long was still smiling down at them.

"You see?" he laughed. "You're nothing more than pathetic, weak little-"

"Shut up!"

Jiao-long suddenly felt a force connect with his stomach. A hand clutched his throat and he was thrown to the wall. He shook his head to clear his vision and saw Junjie and Fenghuang. The two of them had burst through the door just as Chao had been stabbed. Now, Fenghuang was standing behind a very angry Junjie, who looked ready to murder someone.

"Not one more word." Junjie growled. He turned and ran to Chao's side. Fenghuang stood ready to fight Jiao-long if he attacked. Junjie looked over the wound and knew at once it was over; the wound was too deep and too fatal. But he could prolong the inevitable.

"Chao, don't move." Junjie ordered. "Just calm down; you'll be fine."

"Siren's in that box." Shifu said. "I know she is. You have to get her out here; she can save him!" Junjie remembered and nodded, running to the box. He started pulling at the front, punching and kicking it a couple times. Shifu kept his hands on Chao's wound, but the blood kept seeping through his fingers. Chao was breathing hard through clenched teeth, writhing in pain.

"Chao, don't worry." Shifu assured. "You'll be fine. Just hold still." Chao finally opened his eyes and placed a hand over Shifu's hands. He stared up at him, the light slowly leaving his eyes.

"S-Siren…" he whispered, fighting to stay alive. "You…..p-promised…"

Shifu took Chao's hand. "I intend to keep it." He promised.

Chao smiled. He opened his mouth to speak, but not a word came out. Chao's head sunk to the floor, his eyes closed, and his body went limp. Shifu stared in disbelief. He desperately tried to get Chao to wake up, but it was too late.

Master Chao was dead.


	19. Oneshot: A Deal is Made

_Be sure to read the chapter before this. Very significant._

**A Deal is Made**

I quietly followed Chao through the forest, making sure to keep a safe distance. I knew that he would take the mission to safe the elder's daughter. He's pretty awesome like that. I smiled to myself. How I wish I could reveal myself to him. But I can't. Once he realizes who I am, he'll drag me home. But my work is unfinished.

There, he managed to sneak in. Chao was always a pretty good master at stealth. I readjusted my grip on my staff and followed him. But when I got inside the workshop, he had disappeared. "Perfect." I muttered. Where did he go? I shook my head and started sneaking around, searching for Jiao-long. Though, in all honestly, I had no idea where I was going. The place was so huge (reasonable, with all the gorillas and elephants) that I kept running in circles.

Suddenly, I spied Chao sprint past me. Luckily, he kept going, so he didn't see me. I followed, but had to stop suddenly and hid behind a corner. I watched as he looked into a barred window and then entered a room a moment later. I continued down the hallway. Where the devil was that stupid overgrown lizard?

I jumped at the sound of a door banging around the corner. Panicking, I leaped up to the rafters, pulling my hood over my head. I looked down, and there he was: holding his head high like he was the emperor himself.

"I will speak with the soothsayer." Jiao-long told himself. "Yes….yes, he will know." He kept walking down the hallway. Silent as a ghost, I jumped from rafter to rafter after him. My first instinct was to attack, but Oogway's calming words echoed in my head. I listened, and simply followed. Jiao-long kept going until he arrived at the door Chao had walked into. My heart leapt to my throat, but it immediately went back down when I realized Chao wasn't there. Jiao-long's voice rang out.

"What is this supposed to be?" he demanded.

"Sorry." Another voice said. "That's the only language I know."

Jiao-long growled. "Very well. Take this and get it translated." A gorilla walked out of the room with a piece of paper in his hand. Curious, I followed the ape to another room. Another ape followed soon after. I listened as they argued.

"You're not translating it right!"

"Like you can read this stupid prophecy better!"

Chao skidded to a halt and hid right outside the door, listening. I pressed myself against the wall in the darkness.

"Let me see it!"

"No! I'm almost done!"

"You're not doing it right!"

"I can read perfectly fine!"

"But that stupid soothsayer wrote in a different language!"

"Why do you think Jiao-long made me the translator? I'm fluent in over a hundred languages!"

There was grumbling.

"There! Done!"

"But I still don't understand! What power? Who are the armies? What in the name of Heaven above is the Siren's Gem?"

"Who knows? But we have what we want."

"Write a second copy. If we lose this, Jiao-long will have our heads."

There was a pause.

"There, a second copy! I'll hide it."

"Don't bother. We have to get this to Master Jiao-long!"

Chao leaped up and held onto the ceiling with his claws. I held my breath, praying to the gods above that he wouldn't turn around for any reason. Two gorillas walked out, one holding a rolled up piece of paper. When they had left, Chao flipped into the room. I waited. After a minute, Chao ran out of the room and down the hall where the gorillas went. A shout echoed down the hall.

"Bring the elder's daughter to me immediately!" Jiao-long's cruel voice yelled. I glanced from the room to where the voice had come from. That room was full of books; valuable information.

"A quick peek." I whispered. I jumped down and ran into the room. I browsed through the books and opened scroll after scroll, scanning them. Nothing of real interest, until I found what was on the desk: a piece of paper with the word "Prophecy" written in Chinese and a bunch of gibberish underneath. I couldn't read it to save my life, but I couldn't think about it. A crash sounded from the hallway, and I instinctively went to investigate. I could see a gorilla blocking the door, but the window was broken. I could see Chao fighting Jiao-long in the room. A lynx and a wolf pup were in the corner. Jiao-long swiped at Chao's legs and started tugging at his sword, which was imbedded into the wall. Sensing the danger, I jumped onto the gorilla's back and slammed my fist where his skull met his neck. The ape fell to the ground. I shot through the open door and thrust my Bo staff between Chao and Jiao-long's sword, right before the blade could cut through him. Chao and Jiao-long stared at me with shock.

"Don't touch him." I snarled. I shifted my weight and swung my staff up. Jiao-long's sword went flying into the ceiling. I did a spinning back kick and my foot connected with the lizard's stomach. Jiao-long was thrown into the wall. I helped Chao to his feet.

"Take the kid and the soothsayer and run!" I ordered, pushing them towards the door. The gorilla was still out cold. "I'll hold him off, but you have to run straight to the exit!" Chao had stopped. He stared at me. I wanted to pull off my hood so badly. But I resisted.

"GO!" I shouted. I shoved Chao through the door and slammed it shut. I grabbed a broom and put it between the door handle. _I'm sorry Dad._ I thought. I spun around as Jiao-long stood.

"And you would be, who?" Jiao-long inquired.

"My name is Siren." I said.

Jiao-long's eyes widened. "Are you the infamous Siren's Gem?"

My eyebrow rose. "Suppose I am?"

Jiao-long suddenly bowed. "I am honored to be in your presence. But I thought the Siren's Gem would be a rock, not a person."

I stared. "A rock?" I pulled down my hood, revealing my face.

Jiao-long seemed ecstatic and nervous at the same time. "I see why you're called a Gem!" He laughed lightly. "You must sing very well, on account of the Siren part."

I rolled my eyes and decided to play along. "What do you want with me? Obviously you're knowledge of me wasn't an accident."

Jiao-long nodded. "I simply need your help. I plan to rule China myself. But I need help. My men are strong. I have plans for a new weapon. All I need is your wondrous powers on my side."

"You're going to take over China?" I repeated. "Why should I trust you?"

"Because I will make it better." Jiao-long said quickly. "I will bring this nation into a glorious new age."

It was such a load. But before I could argue, there was an explosion. The building shook and guards began shouting. A gorilla guard came to the door.

"Sir!" he panted. "The cat lit all the fireworks in the storage room! The building is going to collapse!"

"Find the cat and get him out alive." Jiao-long ordered. "Save as much supplies as you can and get out of here!" The gorilla ran off. His friend on the floor gained consciousness and ran after him. Jiao-long turned to me. "If you would come with me, please." I was suspicious, but I followed Jiao-long out the door and to safety just as the building burst into flames and collapsed. The guards had escaped already, most if not all of them carrying supplies. One guard held the lynx. I immediately rushed to him.

"Put him down!" I ordered. The guard was confused, but obeyed. I looked over the lynx's wounds. Thankfully, there were few. I was about to attend to them when the lynx grabbed my hand, panting. I shushed him. "It's ok." I whispered so no one would hear. "My name is Siren Jin."

The lynx calmed down and smiled a little. "Jien." He whispered.

"You're going to be alright." I whispered. Jien sighed and gave my hand a squeeze before drifting off to sleep.

"Is he alive?" Jiao-long's voice sounded behind me. I growled and stood.

"Yes." I said simply. "No thanks to you."

"He's the one that lit the fireworks!" a guard snapped.

"Silence!" Jiao-long ordered. "Treat the honorable Siren's Gem with respect."

I scoffed. "Honorable?"

"I still need your help." Jiao-long reminded me. "So what'll it be? Name the terms, and I will do everything in my power to obey them."

I glanced down at Jien. He had lit the fireworks. That means he must've caused a distraction for Chao and the elder's daughter to escape. So my father was safe, for now. I partially knew why Jiao-long was calling me the Siren's Gem. He knows about my gifts.

I turned back to Jiao-long. "I will help you. But I am a guest, not a prisoner. Jien here is to be kept alive and so am I. Threaten me and I blast you to dust. If I think of any other terms, you will obey them."

"Of course." Jiao-long nodded. "Anything for the Siren's Gem."

"And one more thing." I walked up and stared into his eyes. "Master Chao, of the Sacred Onyx Council, is to be left alive. You touch him, and I will _kill _you."

Jiao-long stared for a moment, but nodded. "Let's move out!" The guards started moving. I picked up Jien and carried him bridal style as I walked with Jiao-long.

And so, I went from Siren Jin to the Siren's Gem.


	20. Chapter Fifteen: Is It Over?

**Chapter Fifteen- Is It Over?**

Shifu gently set Chao's still hand on the ground. He pulled back his hands and found them covered in Chao's blood. Shifu closed his eyes in pain. He felt like his entire body had gone cold. Junjie was beside Chao again. He put an ear to Chao's mouth and then his chest. But there was only stillness.

"Coward…." Junjie growled. He stood to face Jiao-long. "How _dare _you take his life when he wasn't expecting it?"

Jiao-long scoffed. "And that's supposed to be _my _problem? I'm glad he's gone; one less pest to worry about." Jiao-long twirled his sword. "One down, three to go."

Suddenly, the front of the metal box flew off and hit the other side of the room. Everyone stared inside. The box's contents simply consisted of a few lanterns, a large pillow, and a human girl, who was meditating. The girl stood up and turned to face them, her braid swinging around.

"Siren…" Shifu whispered.

Siren turned and her eyes widened at the sight of her father. She ran forward and knelt beside Chao, lifting his head in her hands.

"Dad?" She whispered. "Baba? Baba, please wake up."

Shifu wanted to lay a hand on her knee, to comfort her, but his hands were still covered in blood. He could only sigh. "I'm sorry, Siren."

Siren looked up and saw Shifu's bloodied hands. She turned and saw that same blood coating Jiao-long's sword. Siren growled in her throat, something a human was not expected to do. She gently set Chao down and stood, facing Jiao-long.

"You'll pay for that." She snarled. "We had an agreement: touch my father and I kill you."

"Siren, now listen to me." Jiao-long was afraid now. "It was his fault; he jumped at me and my sword just happened to-"

"Shut up!" Siren screamed.

Suddenly, Siren's eyes glowed white. She launched one of her strongest chi attacks. Jiao-long was blasted backwards and slammed into the wall.

"You have done enough damage!" Siren shouted. But her voice was different, as though there were a hundred of her speaking at once. "The one that decides the victor of this war is me! And I decide that you will die!" She shot out hand, and a column of fire went spiraling in Jiao-long's direction. Jiao-long glared and shot out his hand.

A shield formed around him, blocking the fire.

Everyone stared as Jiao-long laughed.

"What you failed to realize is that holding chamber didn't just give power to my machine." Jiao-long laughed. "It also gave _me _power. I am now and powerful as you are!"

"No." Siren growled. "_I _am stronger." She shot lightning from her fingertips. Fenghuang and Junjie stepped back to where Shifu was, safe behind Siren.

Siren and Jiao-long fired everything they could at each other. Siren would create fire from her hands and shoot it, but Jiao-long would telekinetically lift the broken box door and shield himself before launching it at Siren. Water was made from thin air, but frozen before it could hit. Then that frozen water would be made into shards of ice that were melted before impact. It seemed like a never ending battle of the elements until Jiao-long finally aimed for something else: Shifu, Junjie, and Fenghuang. Jiao-long bent the metal above him into a giant ball and hurled it at them. Siren instinctively jumped in front of them.

Jiao-long winced slightly on impact and laughed at his supposed victory. Then, he jumped into the air. In mid-jump, his body grew and lengthened until he was a large, pitch-black Chinese dragon with glowing red eyes. Jiao-long flew off and landed on the mountain above his castle, roaring to the sky.

Below, the two battling armies stared with shock.

"That's a big lizard." Po squeaked.

"What do we do?" Monkey asked worriedly.

"Retreat?" Crane suggested.

"We can't do that!" Tigress snapped. "We can do this!"

"Tigress, we're losing, badly." Crane protested. "If we don't retreat now, we may not get another chance." Tigress glared at the black dragon above her.

Inside Jiao-long's machine, the giant ball of metal was still. Then, it turned red and melted, dripping down the trapdoor. Siren lowered her hand, having just done the amazing feat. Junjie, Shifu, and Fenghuang were safe and alive. Siren glared up at the hole, where she could clearly see Jiao-long. She was about to go after him when Shifu suddenly grabbed her hand.

"Siren, wait!" he ordered.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Siren shouted. "I'm going to tear that scaly freak in half for what he did!"

"You can't just jump into battle like that!" Shifu snapped. "I thought Chao taught you better!"

Siren suddenly turned and slapped Shifu. Apart from a quick flinch, Shifu didn't move, or let go of Siren's hand. "You will not speak of my father." Siren hissed. "He is a great warrior and teacher."

"Then you must be a bad student." Shifu said. Siren's eyes glowed brighter, her face contorted with fury.

"Uh, Shifu, I'd watch what you say." Fenghuang warned.

Shifu ignored her. "You know why your powers affect what happens around you? Why your room changed depending on your feelings? It's because you can't control yourself or your powers. They are _your _gifts to control and you cannot let them control you!" He gestured towards Chao. "Your father taught you control, yes? Then use it! Your powers should obey you and bend to your command. If you don't control yourself, you'll lose! And then we'll all lose! If the prophecy is true, and _you _are our only hope, then you _must _learn control!"

Siren looked ready to kill Shifu. She thrust her free hand to Shifu's throat, lifting him into the air. "What would _you _know about my father and what he taught me?"

Shifu gasped a bit, but stayed strong. "Because I trained with him and you; I know what he taught you. You have to think about what he would say right now. You have to think about what your mother would say!"

Siren's eyes widened at the mention of her mother. Shifu reached into his collar and pulled out the locket for Siren to see. She stared for a moment and slowly set Shifu down, releasing her grip on his neck. Shifu took a few breaths and removed the locket, holding it out for Siren. The girl took the necklace and opened it. She stared at her mother's picture. Tears sprouted from her glowing eyes.

"I miss her." Siren's voice had returned to normal.

Shifu nodded. "I know. I miss her, too."

Siren fell to her knees. She pulled Shifu into a bone-crushing hug. This time, Shifu didn't mind; he returned the hug, trying to comfort the girl. Siren let go after a moment and rubbed her eyes. They weren't glowing anymore, but her irises stayed white. Siren turned to look at her father. He looked so peaceful, like he was asleep.

Jiao-long roared above them.

Siren's eyes hardened. She stood up and walked over to kneel next to her father. Shifu was close behind her. Siren looked into her locket once more and nodded determinedly. She placed her free hand over Chao's wound.

Junjie knew what she was doing. "Siren, don't. It's too late. You can't bring back the dead."

Siren stared at him with her snow-white eyes. "Watch me."

She concentrated hard. All she had to do was picture what she wanted. All through her mind ran memories of her time with her father: when they had gone into the market for her birthday; practicing her kung fu; sparring with her Bo staff; visiting Junjie; meditating with Master Oogway. The last memory that passed was one that she encountered many times: Chao kissing her goodnight, always letting her know that he loved her.

Siren's eyes and hand glowed. Junjie, Shifu, and Fenghuang watched in amazement as the blood disappeared. Even the blood stains on Shifu's hands went away. After a moment, Siren's hand stopped glowing. But her eyes remained the same as she sat upright and sighed. The wound had disappeared completely. Everyone waited with baited breath.

Nothing happened.


	21. Chapter Sixteen: No, It's Not Over

**Chapter Sixteen- No, It's Not Over**

Nothing happened.

Shifu sighed and patted Siren's hand encouragingly. Junjie looked away. Fenghuang hung her head. Siren only sat and waited.

Then, Chao moaned. Everyone stared with wide eyes as Chao coughed violently.

"Chao?" Junjie gently shook him. "Chao, say something."

Chao moaned again. "Ouch….." he muttered.

Those present couldn't help but laugh. Leave it Chao to say something like that. Shifu helped Chao sit up as he rubbed his head.

"I have the worst headache." Chao muttered disdainfully. His eyes suddenly widened when he saw Siren, her eyes still glowing. Chao suddenly got to his knees and pulled his daughter into a hug. "I'm so glad you're safe."

Siren buried her head in Chao's shoulder. "I'm fine, Dad." She pulled away from him. "And I'm sorry for what's happened."

"None of this is your fault." Chao assured. "Everything will be fine."

"I know." Siren nodded. She looked up through the hole in the ceiling. Jiao-long was still in his dragon form, smiling wickedly as the Jade Palace and Rebel Armies began retreating.

Chao noticed the dragon. "Who is that?"

"The scaly freak that almost took you from me." Siren growled. She stood and walked to the center of the room. She prepared herself to jump, but Chao suddenly grabbed her hand.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"I'm going to stop him." Siren said calmly. "I have to."

"I'm not losing you again." Chao said firmly. "Not again."

"Now is not the time!" Siren snapped. "I won't let him take away another life."

"You could get killed!" Chao cried desperately.

Siren looked down sympathetically. "Dad, let go. I promise I'll be fine." Chao tightened his grip. But when he heard Jiao-long's roar, he knew she was right; Siren was their only hope. As much as he hated to do it, he had to let Siren fulfill her destiny. No matter how dangerous it may seem.

Chao let go.

Siren leaped into the air, morphing into a pure white Chinese dragon and flying into the sky. At the last minute, Junjie suddenly grabbed her tail and was pulled into the air with her. Before anyone could grab him, Siren had flown off and landed on her old tower, roaring menacingly at Jiao-long. Shifu watched as Junjie was suddenly whipped into Siren's bedroom window.

Jiao-long snarled at Siren. Siren flew up high and dive bombed the black dragon. Jiao-long intercepted her. As they clashed, the sound of thunder rang out.

Tigress whipped around and stared. She called for the army to stop. "That white one is on our side! We can't abandon it!" She gave a ferocious roar and ran on all fours, back into battle. The rest of the army, quick to regain their spirits, charged after her. Taotie noticed that Jiao-long's metal machine had stopped working. Without Siren, the machine was powerless. Taotie smirked and unleashed his fury upon the metal machine.

Chao, Fenghuang, and Shifu were tossed back and forth as the machine was hit.

"We have to get out of here!" Fenghuang cried out. She picked up Chao in her talons and reached for Shifu, but he had disappeared. Fenghuang flew up and out of the machine as it suddenly tipped over. Chao ran back and searched for Shifu, but only found his jian.

"Where is he?" Chao demanded.

Fenghuang looked around, but the red panda couldn't be seen amongst the chaos. What she didn't know was that Shifu had jumped out of the machine when he saw Junjie be thrown into Siren's room. He was halfway there, running up the stairs as fast as he could. He finally reached the door and shoved it open. Junjie was already there, looking around the room.

"What are you doing?" Shifu asked.

"Looking for Siren's staff." Junjie said. "She'll need it."

Shifu looked and found a black pole sticking from under Siren's bed. He pulled it out and held out the Bo for Junjie to see.

"Now what?" Shifu asked.

"We go help Siren." Junjie said. "She needs us."

"Junjie, remember what the prophecy said?" Shifu reminded him. "When Siren's battle is over, then it's our turn. Her skills are being tested, not ours." Junjie looked down, frowning. "I know you care very much for her. I do too. So let's be smart about this." Junjie looked up and nodded. The two of them ran to the window and looked out. They could see Siren and Jiao-long still fighting in the sky. Every time they rammed into each other, thunder would ring out, even though the skies were clear. However, dark clouds began to gather.

"How do we get to them?" Shifu turned and asked Junjie. At least, where Junjie was. Shifu looked up and saw the fox was climbing up the tower. Shifu rolled his eyes and climbed after him. They reached the top and had to hold on to avoid falling.

"Ok, now what?" Shifu asked.

Junjie gave him a look. "No need to be smug. I know what I'm doing."

"Sure you do." Shifu rolled his eyes.

Junjie didn't seem to hear. He was watching Siren and Jiao-long fight. After a while, Siren's dragon tail suddenly swung down. Junjie reached out and grabbed it with one hand and took Siren's staff in the other. Shifu had to hold on tight as he was swiftly pulled off his feet. He reminded himself not to look down as he and Junjie went higher into the air.

"Are you insane?" Shifu shouted. Junjie only laughed. Shifu took a hold of Siren's tail and held on tight. Junjie started climbing up the spines on Siren's back, all the way up to her head. Shifu followed. But Junjie was already at the top and on Siren's head. The next time Siren bit into Jiao-long's tail, Junjie ran across her muzzle and jumped, grabbing Jiao-long's spines and running up the black dragon's back. Once at the head, Junjie did something a little unorthodox: he bit Jiao-long's ear. Crazy, yes; at the same time, it got Jiao-long's attention. The dragon reared back in surprise and pain, snarling. He tried to swat the fox away, but Junjie only jumped and bit the dragon's other ear.

Down below, the Jade palace and Rebel Army were finally gaining the upper hand. Many of Jiao-long's men had fled at the sight of two large dragons fighting in the sky. The rest had to rely on their limited fighting abilities, as all their weapons were destroyed. The number of unconscious guards grew steadily until Tigress managed to take out the last guard with a fierce, double clawed strike. The armies looked around for any more enemies, but there were none to be seen. The two armies gave a tremendous cheer of victory. Jiao-long looked down and saw his army defeated. Snarling, he went towards the mountain, shifting in midair and landing on the top. Junjie tumbled and rolled, slamming into a tree. Jiao-long stood, his sword somehow appearing in his hands. Junjie stood ready.

"Prepare to die, rat." Jiao-long hissed.

Siren tried to find where Jiao-long had gone, but the dark colored Komodo dragon practically blended in with the rocks.

"Siren, land on the mountain!" Shifu called. "We'll find them faster on foot!" Siren nodded and dove down. She did a flip a morphed back to her human form. She and Shifu landed on the ground a little hard. Shifu tossed Siren her Bo as they ran off. Chao saw Siren disappear and started towards her, but he was held back by Fenghuang.

"Stay here!" She ordered. "All of you! I will go after Siren." She flew off as fast as she could.

Junjie jumped away to avoid Jiao-long's blade. It didn't really help that Jiao-long still had powers equal to Siren's. Rocks levitated from the ground and shot towards Junjie like bullets. Trees swung their branches around. A storm had brew, and lightning bolts rained down. Junjie jumped everywhere like some hyperactive frog, desperately trying to avoid being hit. Then, some vines sprouted from the ground, entangling Junjie's legs. Though he struggled, the vines continued to wrap around him like snakes. He suddenly found himself hanging from a tree by the vines with Jiao-long's sword to his neck.

The Komodo dragon smirked. "Any last words?"

Junjie only glared. Jiao-long shrugged and swung his sword back.

There was the sound of metal on wood.

Siren growled and kicked Jiao-long away. She glared at him with snow white irises. Jiao-long returned the glare, his irises blood red. Shifu stood by Siren to fight, but the human pushed him back.

"Stay out of this." She ordered. "This is _my _fight." She spun her staff around and charged for Jiao-long. The Komodo dragon held his sword in one hand and darted forward. The two met halfway, and the epic battle began. Shifu began to tug at the vines in an attempt to free Junjie from them.

"Can't you break these faster?" Junjie snapped.

"Oh shut up." Shifu growled.

Siren and Jiao-long continued their battle. No matter what was thrown at the other, the attack was blocked and retaliated. Jiao-long launched fire from his palms, but Siren absorbed the water from a nearby tree to block it, then froze the ice into shards and sent them flying. Ice clashed with metal as Jiao-long expertly deflected each shard. He telekinetically lifted a huge boulder and launched it towards the human. Siren shot her fist out and the boulder exploded into dust. She swept her foot across the ground and a whirlwind of the dust knocked Jiao-long into the mountain's wall. The reptile pushed off the wall and flew towards her, his sword out in front of him. Siren slammed her staff into the ground, sending up a small wall of rock. Jiao-long did a face plant and slumped to the ground. The rock wall went back into the ground, but Jiao-long had disappeared. Siren scanned her surroundings, but he was nowhere in sight. Sensing someone behind her, she spun around and found Jiao-long's sword to her chest. She knocked it aside and did a back flip, landing in a strong stance a ways away. Jiao-long raised his sword to the sky and extended his palm towards Siren. A bolt of lightning stuck his sword, went through his arm, and came out his palm straight for Siren.

There was a white flash of light. When it died down, Siren was on the ground. Her clothes were singed and her hair had been cut. Her face was smeared with dirt and soot. Her staff lay inches from her hand. She didn't seem to be breathing.

Jiao-long laughed cruelly. He turned to Shifu and Junjie, still tangled in the vines.

"So much for her." He gloated. "What made you think _she _could defeat me?"

Shifu stood ready to fight. "Even if she dies, I will defeat you."

Jiao-long shook his head. "You really are a pain, aren't you?" He lunged with his sword.

Unbeknownst to the rest, Siren was alive, barely breathing but still conscious. The sound of Shifu and Jiao-long's battle was like an echo underwater to her ears. Still, she did not move. All through her mind ran memories from her past; memories of kids teasing her because of how different she was. In the human realm, only one person stood up for her and became her friend. Everyone else saw her as a freak. They laughed at Siren during recess as she "talked to the trees"; when in reality she was only healing wounded birds or making flowers grow. The memories changed. She was with her abusive stepfather, constantly being yelled at and hurt. The punches from her memory felt so real.

Everything came in a flood of bad visions: getting bullied in the village; failing to perform a kung fu move correctly; not being able to defend herself from being mugged; Junjie getting stabbed; her father being killed; getting blasted by Jiao-long's final attack that made her so weak and helpless now.

_I'm a failure_. Siren thought. _Why did I think I could do this? My friend, my _family_, will die. And it's all my fault. _Hot tears came forth, but she swallowed them back. _Dad, Shifu, everyone, I'm sorry. Please forgive me._

_Siren…._

Siren stirred slightly.

_Siren…_

_Mom? _Siren thought.

_Siren….._ Yes, it was her mother. Her mother's voice was echoing softly in her head.

_Siren. _Her mother said gently. _You are not weak. You have amazing strength. Nothing can stop you. Feeling sorry for yourself won't save Shifu, Junjie, or China itself. Be strong, my little girl. Show that bag of scales what _you _can do._

Instantly, more memories came to Siren's mind: playing with her friend in the human world; finding her father; training under Oogway; moving to Ziben; all the fun things Chao did with her for her birthday; sparring with Junjie; visiting the Jade Palace and meeting Tigress; finally, being with her father on her sixteenth birthday. That was the last time she saw him before going to hunt down Jiao-long. It was also the day Chao had given her a special gift.

_FLASHBACK_

_Siren opened the cloth and gasped lightly. Inside was a beautiful golden comb with a ceramic peach blossom on the end. _

"_It's so beautiful." Siren breathed._

_Chao beamed proudly. "It belonged to your mother." _

_Siren looked up. "My mother?" Chao nodded. He took the comb, rolled Siren's hair in a bun, and stuck the comb into her hair to keep it in place. _

"_She wore it just like this all the time." Chao said. "It was her favorite."_

_Siren delicately touched the peach blossom. Then, she spun around and hugged Chao tight. Chao returned the hug, a little confused._

"_I'm glad you like it." He said. Siren didn't answer. "Are you alright?"_

"_Fine." Siren assured as she pulled away. "Thank you."_

_Chao could see something was troubling her, but he didn't push it. He left a while later to go into the village. When he came back, Siren was fast asleep in a chair. One of her new books was in her lap. Chao chuckled to himself and carried his daughter to bed. He pulled the blanket over her and kissed her forehead._

"_Goodnight, Siren." He whispered. "I love you."_

_He walked off to his own bed to sleep. Minutes after he left, Siren opened her eyes and got out of bed. She put on her pants and vest. She removed her comb and let her long black hair tumble down before braiding it. She fastened her cloak around her shoulders and carefully made her bed. She laid her panda doll against the pillow. Siren sighed and glanced down at her comb. She pulled her locket over her head and carefully wrapped the chain around the comb, placing the heart in the peach blossom. Siren took up her Bo staff and snuck into her father's room. Chao lay asleep on his bed, his chest steadily rising and falling as he slept. Siren thought about what she was about to do one last time before reminding herself that she had to do this. To protect the only family she had. _

_Siren gently placed her comb and locket in Chao's open hand. She wanted to do so much more, but forced herself not to. _

_Siren ran off through the front door and disappeared into the night._

_FLASHBACK END_

Siren growled. She opened her eyes and saw Shifu on the ground, vines wrapped around his arms and legs and holding him in place. Jiao-long was taking his time coming forward to kill him. Siren grabbed her staff. Her limbs shook as she stood, but all she had to do was think about who she was fighting for: Chao, her mother Ren, Shifu, Junjie, everyone that fought to protect her. That was enough to give her the strength to stand.

Jiao-long, Shifu, and Junjie, all who believed that Siren was dead, stared with wide eyes as the girl stood. Her clothes were still singed and her skin was dirty. Her hair, now shoulder length since it had been cut, fell loose of its braid. With her staff in hand and a fire in her bright green eyes, Siren said her next sentence with venom in every word.

"Leave…..them….._alone_."

Jiao-long became angry and charged towards her. He swung his sword around to slice her in half. Siren only held up a hand to block it. The sword shattered like glass. Siren attacked Jiao-long in a flurry of moves: a rock-hard fist to his stomach, a solid knife hand strike to his throat, a sweep of the legs, a back fist to his chest that sent him to the ground, cracking the stone. Siren grabbed Jiao-long's collar and threw him high into the air. Using her powers, she shot straight up, flying after him. They went so high up that the mountain seemed like an ant hill. Siren gripped Jiao-long's throat as they hovered in midair.

Siren glared hard. "_Nobody _threatens my family or my home."

She threw him down to the earth. In her momentum, she spun around numerous times and shot her hand out. A powerful Thundering Wind Hammer, pure white like a comet, followed the Komodo dragon. Jiao-long turned and halted his fall, landing softly on the ground. He didn't, however, see the giant white ball of chi heading towards him until it was too late. The blast pushed Jiao-long into the ground and sent a blinding white flash. Siren gently floated down to the ground. A hole shaped like Jiao-long's body was in the rocks. The Komodo dragon stood shakily. He wobbled this way and that as he came forward.

"You…can't beat me!" Jiao-long panted. "You're…..just a weak….little….girl!"

"No, Jiao-long." Siren said. "_You're _weak." Jiao-long growled and ran towards her.

Siren held up her hand and he ran into it. With her hand still on his chest, Siren launched a strong chi attack. Her energy shot straight through Jiao-long, stripping him of the powers he had gained from her. With him finally powerless, Siren stepped back and did a spinning back kick. Jiao-long went flying back and over some rocks.

Shifu and Junjie stared. Siren stood in place, still as a statue, and sighed. Then, the exhaustion from her battle finally caught up, and her knees buckled. Siren fell to the ground, her staff rolling away. Shifu and Junjie struggled against the vines around their limbs.

"Siren?" Shifu called.

"Siren, are you alright?" Junjie asked. But Siren wouldn't move.

A cruel laugh rang out.


	22. Ch 17: TriDragon of Death vs Jiaolong

**Chapter Seventeen- The Tri-Dragon of Death vs. Jiao-long**

Jiao-long stood on the rocks he had been thrown over. He was battered and his robes were filthy, but he laughed maniacally.

"I knew it!" he shouted. "No little girl can defeat me! Now I will blast you to dust!" He shot his palm out and Shifu and Junjie braced themselves.

But nothing happened.

Jiao-long tried again and again, but nothing came from his palm or fingertips. "Blasted little wench! Stole my powers!"

"They were never yours to begin with!" Junjie retorted.

Jiao-long snarled. "Then I'll rip you apart with my claws!" He came forward towards Junjie, but noticed Siren on the ground, still out cold. His eyes were full of lust as he turned his course towards her. Shifu and Junjie were both still tangled in vines and tree roots, so they could do nothing but watch in horror as Jiao-long raised his claws high to strike down Siren.

A sudden screech pierced the sky as a pair of owl's talons grabbed Jiao-long's arm and threw the reptile into the rocks. Fenghuang acted fast, cutting through the vines with her sharp wings. Shifu and Junjie stood alongside her, ready to fight.

"Can't you two stay out of trouble when I'm not around?" Fenghuang teased.

"Oh shut up." Junjie grumbled.

"We have a job to do." Shifu reminded them. "Now let's finish this." Fenghuang and Junjie nodded in understanding. Jiao-long ran towards them.

The fight began.

Jiao-long swiped his claws at Junjie, who expertly blocked them and kicked Jiao-long away. Shifu swiped at Jiao-long's feet and kicked him into the air. Fenghuang swooped down, grabbed Jiao-long's robes in her talons, and spun around to throw him into the ground. Jiao-long stood, growling. He attacked anyone that came close to him, but no matter what he did, he only got thrown one way and then another. With his limitless powers gone and his sword destroyed, he could only rely on his kung fu. He was obviously a seasoned kung fu master, but he was fighting against three other equally strong masters, and he could only land a few shots to each of them.

Jiao-long's anger was rising. He couldn't land a hit for a while now. Then, he finally snapped. With Shifu, Junjie, and Fenghuang surrounding him, he suddenly spun in a circle, unleashing a strong chi attack that blasted everyone backwards. Fenghuang would've flown off the cliff had her foot not been tangled in a tree root at the last second. Junjie hit his head on a rock and slumped to the ground. Only Shifu was partially spared, slamming into a tree but getting to his feet in seconds. Jiao-long turned his focus on the red panda. He went down on all fours, pacing back and forth in front of the small master, his tail swishing back and forth like a cat's. Shifu pressed himself against the tree, watching Jiao-long's every move.

Jiao-long darted in a zigzag before jumping towards Shifu, claws outstretched. Shifu jumped low and rolled away. Jiao-long landed on the tree and pushed off, aiming his foot towards Shifu. The red panda blocked the strike and moved in to kick the Komodo dragon aside. Jiao-long launched his fist forward, but it was caught and a palm thrust into his face. The scar on Jiao-long's face reopened, blood running down his face. Jiao-long hissed and leaped for Shifu, snapping his jaws. Shifu instinctively jumped away. But Jiao-long kept coming, intent on bringing Shifu down. Shifu had to jump this way and that, knowing one venomous bite from Jiao-long would slowly bring him to his demise. Jiao-long was constantly trying to bite or scratch Shifu, wanting to let the old man's blood flow. It wasn't until he tripped over a rock that Shifu got a hit in. Jiao-long went flying into a tree. He glared murderously and ripped a small branch from the tree. Using it like a club/staff, Jiao-long attacked again.

Shifu jumped back and tried to block the attacks, but the force inflicted by the tree branch was enough to push him back a few feet with each hit. The rough wood from the branch hurt his hands and arms whenever he blocked a strike. Then, Jiao-long caught him off guard when the Komodo dragon swung the branch like a bat, slamming one end into Shifu's face. Shifu hit the ground hard, bouncing and rolling until he hit a rock. Jiao-long ran up and slammed the tree branch against Shifu's neck. Shifu immediately put pressure against the branch, but Jiao-long was putting all his weight on the makeshift staff. His lungs burned as they were deprived of life-giving air.

Jiao-long sneered. "What made you think you could beat me? I've been planning every move I made! Nothing you could've done would stop me. And now, you will die here. China will be _mine_."

"Not this time!"

Jiao-long snarled as an orange streak slammed into him. He hissed towards Junjie, who stood protectively in front of Shifu. Junjie charged for Jiao-long. Shifu coughed a little and put a hand to his abused throat. He watched in amazement as Junjie and Jiao-long fought fiercely. Junjie let loose all the kung fu he knew as he battled, narrowly missing Jiao-long's teeth and claws.

But then, Jiao-long grabbed Junjie's shirt and threw him aside, launching a chi attack after him. Junjie slammed into Shifu. The chi attack made contact and sent the two masters over a cliff. Junjie grabbed the cliff edge in one hand and shot out the other to grab Shifu's paw. The two of them hung off the edge, the ground hundreds of feet below them.

Jiao-long appeared above them. He smirked confidently. "You two really should've chosen your allies better." He stomped a foot on Junjie's hand. The fox clenched his teeth, but refused to let go. "By joining in the fight against me, you have signed your own death wishes."

"It was worth it." Junjie growled through still-clenched teeth.

Jiao-long shook his head. "I hope it's still worth it when you hit the ground." He pushed his foot forward, jerking Junjie's grip loose of the rock. Shifu and Junjie fell, faster and faster as the ground came closer. They would've been flattened on impact had Fenghuang not swooped in and caught them.

"What took you so long?" Junjie snapped.

"Shut up." Fenghuang droned. She flew up high and landed several feet from Jiao-long. Junjie and Shifu jumped down.

"We can't fight him separately." Shifu said. "We need a combined attack; one that'll stop him for good."

"But what?" Fenghuang asked.

Junjie suddenly got a mischievous look on his face. "You guys thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yes." Shifu nodded.

"Oh dear." Fenghuang rolled her eyes.

It was a move they had practiced years ago when they were at the Jade Palace together. Oogway had always told them it was too dangerous to use in battle because it required immense concentration and power. It also required the target to remain still. If performed correctly, it could take away a person's ability to fight and render them useless. Many who tried the technique died from it. But with three of them working together, sharing the burden, it couldn't fail.

Could it?

Shifu ran in first, distracting Jiao-long while Junjie and Fenghuang grabbed some vines. Fenghuang dove down first, wrapping the vines in her feet around Jiao-long's hand, right before the Komodo dragon could land a punch with said hand. Junjie took the other end of the vine and tossed a second length of vine to Fenghuang. Junjie tied the vine end to a tree branch and ran to get the other end. Fenghuang managed to loop the second vine around Jiao-long's free hand. Junjie took the other end and trapped it under a rock.

With Jiao-long immobilized, his arms pulled out to either side of him, the technique could be performed.

Shifu, Junjie, and Fenghuang stood in a circle around Jiao-long. They concentrated on what needed to be done, gathering their chi to perform the technique. Jiao-long fought against his restraints, but the vines were strong. Auras formed around Shifu, Fenghuang, and Junjie; their Tri-Dragon of Death marks glowed brightly. Glowing orbs of their own chi formed in their palms/wings. Jiao-long, not knowing what was happening but sensing the danger, suddenly reached as far as he could and chewed off one of his bonds. He cut away at the last vine and darted for his nearest enemy: Fenghuang. Junjie and Shifu jumped beside her. Fenghuang flew a few feet above the ground. With their marks glowing and their stances strong, the Tri-Dragon of Death shouted, "Dragon's Deathless Execution!"

Three comets of chi went flying towards Jiao-long, circling the Komodo dragon at rapid speeds. Streams of light came from Jiao-long's body, entering the ring of light around him. He shouted with rage as the lights spun faster and fast. Suddenly, there was an explosion. Shifu, Junjie, and Fenghuang shielded their eyes.

When the light died down, Jiao-long was on the ground. He didn't move.

Junjie sighed, and then laughed. "That…..was so cool."

Shifu laughed and shook his head. "Of all the things you could've said, you decide to say, 'That was so cool'?"

"What more can I say?" Junjie laughed. "We did it! That was the most amazing thing I've ever done! The most amazing thing _we've _ever done! Ha ha!"

Fenghuang rolled her eyes. "You are such a nerd." She ruffled the fur on his head. "I don't know how I put up with you."

Junjie pushed her foot away. "Let's get down to the armies. Tell them the good news."

Shifu and Fenghuang nodded in agreement. They turned to walked back down the mountain when a noise reached their ears. They spun around as Jiao-long's body shifted. He stood up, swaying this way and that like a drunken man.

"You…..can't…..beat me!" Jiao-long declared weakly.

"Why doesn't he just _die _already?" Fenghuang said, annoyed.

"I am….the great….Jiao-long!" Jiao-long continued, wobbling around. He was obviously in no shape to fight, but that didn't stop him. "I will…..create a new army….and I…..will destroy…" A claw tapped his shoulder. Jiao-long turned around quickly. "What?"

Chao's fist connected with Jiao-long's face. Jiao-long spun around in a full circle a few times before stopping to face away from Chao. He stood in one spot for a moment before spitting a tooth out of his mouth and falling to the ground, unconscious. Junjie, Shifu, and Fenghuang stared.

"Are you kidding?" Fenghuang said. "All that we've thrown at him, and all it took to knock him out was a single punch to the face?"

"Wow." Junjie groaned.

"Where's Siren?" Chao asked hurriedly. The members of the Tri-Dragon of Death suddenly got wide eyes. They had forgotten that Siren took a pretty bad blow in her own battle. Everyone turned to the wounded human, who was lying still and silent on the ground. Everyone started towards her, but Chao darted ahead and got there first. He rolled Siren to her back and lifted her head in his hand. Shifu, Junjie, and Fenghuang stood a little ways away to give them some air.

"Siren?" Chao stared at his daughter's face, mentally screaming for her eyes to open or for her to show some signs of life. But Siren's face remained still.

"Siren." Shifu whispered. "Siren, please."

Siren wouldn't move. Chao trembled slightly, refusing to accept it. He hugged his daughter tight, silent tears dripping down to Siren's hair.


	23. Chapter Eighteen: Choices

**Chapter Eighteen- Choices**

Siren opened her eyes. She looked around in confusion. She was lying on a tatami bed facing the ceiling. A dresser with a mirror attached was against the wall and her Bo staff rested against it. Siren sat up and took one more look around the room.

It was _her _room. The room she had when she lived at the Jade Palace. Siren stood from her bed and poked her head out the door. She looked one way, then the other. Her eyes widened when she saw who was at the end of the hall.

"Shifu!" she cried happily. She ran forward and reached down to hug him. But her arms went right through him like he was a ghost. Siren stepped back. "Shifu?" She tried to put a hand on Shifu's shoulder, but her hand when right through him. Shifu didn't even turn around. But he did knock on the door he was in front of.

"Would you get out here?" Shifu called.

"Not yet!" a voice called from inside the room. "I'm still getting ready!"

"It'll be winter by the time you're done!" Shifu protested.

"Just give me a minute!" the voice said again. Siren realized it was her father's voice. "I think I'm going to be sick!"

"Oh come on, Chao!" Shifu groaned. "Everything's going to be fine!"

"I don't know." Chao was extremely nervous.

"You're not backing out from your soon-to-be wife!" Shifu snapped.

Junjie came around the corner. He was dressed in a fine, silk gold shirt and black pants. Siren noticed that Shifu was wearing black robes with a silver trim. And did he say "soon-to-be wife"?

"Is he _still _in there?" Junjie droned. Shifu nodded, and Junjie banged on the rice paper door. "Chao, if you don't get out here, I'm coming in there and dragging you to the alter!"

"You wouldn't dare." Chao said.

"Try me, groom boy." Junjie retorted.

Chao sighed and walked out of his room. Siren stared. Chao was dressed in red silk robes with gold thread dragons sewn all over it. A red silk sash was around his waist and red shoes were on his feet.

"Chao, relax." Shifu assured. "You'll be fine."

"I'm getting married, for gods' sake!" Chao cried.

"Not yet."

Siren looked up and gasped a little. "Oogway?"

The old tortoise came up to Chao, a groom's cap in his claws. Chao bowed to Master Oogway, and the tortoise placed the groom's cap on Chao's head. "Perfect." Oogway said. "Now, you can get married."

Chao smiled, looking a little hopeful. "By any chance, is-"

"No, Chao, he's not here." Oogway shook his head sadly.

Chao looked sad, but shook it off. "It doesn't matter."

"That's the spirit." Shifu said. "Are you ready now?"

Chao nodded. "Yes." The four of them walked off. Siren followed, knowing she must be in some sort of dream. They walked out into the arena and Siren saw many people occupying it. One person stood out: Ren. Siren gasped as she stared at her mother. She looked so beautiful in her red wedding dress and Phoenix crown. Siren couldn't see her mother's face, but she knew that Ren was beautiful. Siren watched with awe as Chao and Ren went through the wedding ceremony. Siren clapped with everyone else, even if no one could hear.

"So wonderful, isn't it?"

Siren spun around and saw her mother. Ren was dressed in a beautiful yet simple white dress with her long black hair flowing down her back. Siren ran forward and hugged her mother tight, so relieved they could touch. But suddenly, Siren stepped back.

"Am I dead?" she asked.

Ren laughed. "Nope, not this time."

Siren was confused. "Then, why can I see you?"

"Well, you're kind of unconscious." Ren said. "You used a lot of strength, and a lot of chi, in your last attack against Jiao-long."

Siren sighed. "I guess so. I didn't know I could do it."

Ren smiled. "You were born with amazing powers. I'm just glad you were strong enough."

Siren's smile was gone. "But, _was _I strong enough? I almost lost Dad."

Ren patted Siren's head. "I know, sweetheart, but you saved him. Just as I expected."

Siren smiled once more. "I guess so. I still can't believe I was able to control my powers."

"It was so simple, wasn't it?" Ren guessed. "Just imagine what you want, and everything comes naturally."

"Nothing about me is natural." Siren said solemnly. "I'm a human; I wasn't meant to be in this world."

"I don't think I was, either." Ren agreed. "And yet, here we are." She shook her head. "Fate is such a mysterious thing."

Siren nodded in agreement. "So, what now?"

"Now, you have a choice." Ren said. "At the moment, you're unconscious. This realm is only a dream. You realize that?"

Siren looked around and saw the scene had changed. Now, she and her mother were in the Sacred Hall of Warriors.

Siren looked back at her mother. "So, what's the choice I need to make?"

Ren smiled. "You must choose where to go. You can either go back to the land of the living, or you can join me in the Heavens."

Siren stared with disbelief. "You mean, move on? Die?"

"Well, right now you're kind of in the middle of life and death." Ren explained. "You need to choose which way to go."

Siren thought for a second. "So, if I decide to live, can you come back?"

Ren smiled sadly and pet her daughter's hair. "Siren, I've moved on. My time had come and gone, and I'm happy."

"But you can come back!" Siren said excitedly. "You can come home! You can be with Dad again and we can be a family again!"

"Siren." Ren caressed her daughter's cheek lovingly. "I can't go back."

"But I want to be with you!" Siren pleaded. "I won't leave here without you! If it means I have to die, then fine!"

"Siren, you can't do that." Ren protested kindly. "What about your father? What about Shifu? Think about everyone that would be heartbroken over losing you. I know you want to be with me, but you know that there's only one way to go."

Siren glared. "I want to be with you. You were taken from me unfairly and I was left with an abusive, alcoholic scumbag. For once, I want to actually do what Iwant rather than do the right thing."

Ren looked close to tears, but she kept her smile. "I know. I would love nothing more than to be with Chao again. But it can't be that way." She pulled Siren into a hug. "I love you so much. And I love your father. I want both of you to be happy." She looked Siren in the eyes. "You have to go back. I don't trust myself to leave your father alone. He's heartbroken without you." She waved her hand through the air. A portal appeared, showing Chao clutching his "dead" daughter and silently crying in deep mourning. Siren looked away. She hated seeing her father so upset.

"Does he really need me that badly?" Siren asked.

Ren looked upset. "Don't you miss him?"

"Of course." Siren nodded. "I ran away and was gone for over a year. I was so guilty for putting him though that. But I did it to protect him."

"I know." Ren was smiling again. "I've been watching. Oh Siren, I've always been watching you. No matter where you were, what you've done, you were never alone." She put a hand on her daughter's heart. "I've always been right here. And I always will be."

Siren's lip trembled, and she hugged her mom tight. "I miss you."

"I miss you, too." Ren said. "And I'm sorry that I had to leave."

Siren wiped her eyes. "It's not your fault. Like you said, Fate is a mysterious thing."

Ren laughed a little. "You may look like me, but you act so much like your father. So wise, so strong, and so kind."

Siren looked back towards Chao. He was so upset. He thought his only child was dead. Siren turned to her mother. "I love you Mom."

"I love you Siren." Ren gently touched Siren's face.

Siren's world went dark. Her senses seemed to turn on for a few seconds before they started coming back, one by one. She felt the cold stone of the earth under her bare feet and her scorched clothes against her body. She could even smell the burnt fibers and there was a bad taste in her mouth. She could hear someone sniffling.

"Come on now, Fenghuang." Junjie's voice said. "None of that."

Junjie and Fenghuang were alright. Shifu must be ok, too. Siren felt better already. Then, she felt cold drops of water on her forehead. Chao was clutching her tightly.

Siren groaned. "Daddy, that hurts."

Chao's eyes widened and he pulled away. "Siren?"

Siren's eyes fluttered open. She looked up at her father and smiled a little. "Hey Dad."

Chao sighed with relief. "You can't scare me like that."

Siren could hardly shrug, she was so tired. "I'm a teenager." She whispered. "It's my job."

"Then you're fired." Junjie laughed. Siren chuckled lightly. She looked over at Shifu, Junjie, and Fenghuang.

"Thank you." She said. "All of you. For what you risked to help me."

"For you, absolutely." Fenghuang assured.

"You're worth it." Shifu added, giving her hand a squeeze.

Siren sighed happily, and then yawned a little. "I'm so tired."

"Then sleep." Chao said. "We'll be home soon."

Siren smiled. Chao hooked his arm under her legs and lifted her up. Siren rested her head against Chao's chest and fell into a blissful, peaceful sleep.


	24. Chapter Nineteen: Home

**Chapter Nineteen- Home**

Chao, Shifu, Junjie, and Fenghuang traveled on foot down the mountain to meet with their armies. Po and the Five approached them first. All six warriors were thoroughly confused at the sight of a young human sleeping in Chao's arms.

"Who's this?" Po asked.

"The Siren's Gem." Fenghuang replied.

"Also known as Siren Jin." Junjie added. Everyone stared.

"_That _is the reason we got into an almost war with a crazy Komodo dragon?" Fung asked.

"Speaking of which, where is he?" Tigress asked.

"Still up on the mountain." Shifu said. "Crane, could you retrieve him?" The avian seemed a little confused, but flew off.

"I can't believe all this happened because of a kid." Song sighed.

"A special kid." Chao corrected.

"It's over now." Shifu assured. "Jiao-long has been defeated. We can go home." He looked around. "What happened to the Rebel Army?"

"They left." Viper said. "Didn't want to be captured and put in jail, but gave us the excuse that they had to go home."

Junjie laughed. "Oh well. What are you going to do?"

"I'm with Shifu." Po said. "Let's go home." Not a single soul argued. When Crane returned with a still unconscious Jiao-long, the Jade Palace Army went back to the Jade Palace. Along the way, the members of the army split up. Dosu and Sai So started their journey back home. The Ladies of the Shade, along with Song, continued their travels with the promise to keep in touch. Peng did the same, intent on continuing his search for his uncle. Temutai and his warriors split off to go home. Jong left with his men back to his lands. Fung and his gang were the last to leave. Once at the Jade Palace, there was a bit of discussion about the Mongolian Fist Demon. Luckily, the little blue creature now looked to his jar like a home, and gladly went back inside to rest from the constant battles. The rest of the group split off to sleep. The Five and Po went to their respective rooms and instantly fell asleep. Junjie and Fenghuang had to share the guest bedroom.

"How is that, after all these years, there's only one other room?" Junjie grumbled.

"Just go to bed." Shifu yawned.

Junjie groaned and shut the door. "Crazy old man."

"I heard that!" Shifu called as he walked off.

Junjie groaned again. "Stupid big ears."

"Heard that, too!"

Junjie groaned one last time before climbing into a tatami. He pulled the blanket over him. Fenghuang wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and fell asleep standing up in the corner.

Shifu continued down the hallway and through the palace until he reached the infirmary. Chao and Siren were in one of the rooms. Siren was fast asleep on the bed, tucked in and peaceful. Chao was next to her bed, meditating. Shifu walked up and patted Siren's shoulder.

"Thank you."

Shifu turned to Chao. The elder master was smiling. "Thank you, for keeping your promise."

Shifu looked back at Siren and could just see the glint of the gold locket around Siren's neck. "Well, it wasn't easy, but I'm a man of my word."

Chao glanced towards his daughter. "The doctor says she's fine, just tired. May not wake up until day after tomorrow, but she'll need her sleep."

"That's good." Shifu nodded. "I'm glad she's safe. But I never doubted that she'd be ok. She's strong and smart. Like her mother. And you, of course."

Chao laughed a little. "You really think she'll be ok?"

"She'll be fine." Shifu assured. "She's stronger than you give her credit for."

Chao sighed. "I give her plenty of credit. I just worry about her. I'm her father, it's my job."

"Well I'm sure she'd say 'you're fired' if she were awake." Shifu said. The two of them chuckled. "Don't worry about her; Siren will be fine." Shifu walked to the door. "You're welcome to take the cot at the foot of the bed." He walked off to his room. Chao glanced at the cot before turning to Siren again. He gently petted her head.

"You're so strong." He breathed with realization.

Siren didn't wake up the next morning. Everyone else slept in till noon. The Five and Po weren't exactly glad to have Fenghuang and Junjie in the Jade Palace, but they agreed to put up with them for one day. That one day was spent for resting. Chao never left Siren's bedside. He hardly ate; Po kindly brought him some food for lunch and dinner, but Chao wasn't very hungry. He was anxious for Siren to wake up but she was sound asleep for the entire day. Sometimes, Chao would check for Siren's pulse to make sure she was still alive.

Po came for Chao's dinner dishes and found the old master sitting next to Siren's bed.

"Thank you for the food." Chao said as Po gathered the dirty dishes.

"No problem." Po shrugged. "Anything else I can get for you?"

"No, thank you." Chao said, staring at Siren.

Po stole a glance at Siren. She was mostly covered by the blanket so that only her head and eyes were visible. _She's awfully pretty. _Po thought. "You know, she's going to be fine."

Chao looked up at Po. "How can you be sure?"

"Honestly, I can't." Po admitted. "But no good comes from looking on the down side. I always try and look for an upside, even if there isn't one."

"Why?" Chao asked. "How can you do that and not….." Chao thought for a moment. "There's not going to be a bright side to every situation, so how can you still search for one?"

Po shrugged. "It gives me hope." He walked off. "You can't lose hope, or else it means you've given up."

Chao glanced back at Siren after Po had left. He smiled softly and went to sleep.

The next morning, Siren sat up and stretched. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. She looked over and saw Chao asleep on the cot at the foot of her bed. She stood and put another blanket on top of him. She carefully tiptoed out of the room, wrapping her cloak around her shoulders. She walked out of the infirmary, heading for the kitchen. She was starving. She approached the kitchen doors and stopped when she heard voices. Siren peered around the corner shyly. She recognized the Furious Five from the poster she had of them and a panda: the Dragon Warrior.

Tigress spotted the girl first. "Siren?"

Siren started a little, but cautiously walked into the doorway.

"So _this _is the Siren's Gem?" Mantis said. "Well, I'll give you credit for being pretty."

Siren giggled a little. "It is an honor to be in your presence." She bowed in respect to the kung fu masters.

"No need to be formal." Tigress assured as she approached Siren. She put an arm around the human's shoulders and led her to the table. "How are you feeling?"

"Little hungry." Siren shrugged. Her stomach growled loudly. "Very hungry."

"Got some breakfast coming up!" Po announced. "How about some stir fry on rice?"

"Perfect." Siren sighed. Po chuckled and served up a bowl of food for the girl. Siren could hardly wait for the chopsticks before she started eating. Though she was as polite as can be her bowl was empty in less than a minute.

"Talk about hungry." Monkey laughed. "I don't think even _Po _can eat that fast!"

"Hey!" Po pouted.

Siren covered her mouth to keep from laughing. "Um, can I have a little more, please?"

"Of course." Po immediately put more food in her bowl. "I bed Jiao-long didn't feed you very well."

"It's not that." Siren assured. "I've just been asleep for almost two days."

"Hey, I found this after the battle." Crane said. "Is it yours?"

"My Bo!" Siren exclaimed. She gratefully took her staff and held it close. She spun it around a few times, but got a little dizzy and had to sit down.

"You sure you're feeling better?" Viper asked. "We could see your powers from the bottom of the mountain. You were amazing!"

"I'm fine." Siren assured. "I've slept and ate and I can go back to my normal life." She sighed. "I'm just glad I can go home with Dad."

Po shook his head. "I still can't believe _the _Master Chao is your dad! That's so cool!"

"Yeah, it has its perks." Siren smiled. She finished her food and pushed the bowl aside. "So, what's the plan for today?"

"Well, we were about to go training." Tigress said.

"But we can give you a tour of the palace if you want." Crane offered.

"I used to live here." Siren said. "Can I train with you? I'm a little out of practice." The Five and Po were a little wary, but agreed that the young human could join them. The seven of them walked off to the Training Hall to start their daily routine, long overdue. Each of the Five took some time to practice on their normal training equipment before watching Po blunder his way through the course. Siren tried not to laugh, but it was a little hard not to after watching the panda get beat up by a machine.

"That's so cool." Siren breathed. "You guys are truly awesome."

"You wanna try?" Monkey offered.

Siren's eyes brightened as she nodded eagerly. She handed Tigress her Bo for safekeeping and stood ready at the edge of the equipment. Siren took a deep breath, and leaped into action. She moved gracefully across the wooden spinning logs and blocked a club from colliding with her skull. Then she jumped to the Jade Bowl and skillfully deflected arrows sent her way. She darted through the wooden warriors and smashed one to pieces before jumping to the fire field. She moved about, avoiding any column of fire that shot near her bare feet. For a finale, Siren leaped high into the air and grabbed the rings hanging from the ceiling. She swung from ring to ring like a monkey before doing a flip and landing in front of the Five and Po.

Everyone stared.

"That was awesome!" Po exclaimed. "That was better than Peng!"

"Chao taught you well." Tigress nodded in agreement.

"Siren!"

The group turned as Chao came into the doorway. He was breathing hard, like he had just run fifty miles in ten seconds.

"Have you seen Siren?" he asked worriedly. "She wasn't in bed when I woke up and I can't find her anywhere!"

"Dad, relax." Siren revealed herself. "I'm fine."

Chao sighed. "I thought I told you not to scare me like that."

Siren shrugged. "It's my job."

Chao narrowed his eyes, but smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine." Siren said. "The Dragon Warrior can cook pretty well."

Po shrugged. "Just trying to help."

"Well, once you've been rested enough, we can go home." Chao said. "I've been gone from the council for a while and they'll need answers."

Siren looked concerned. "We'll come back, right?"

"Of course." Chao assured. "The Jade Palace is just as much our home as Ziben is." He walked off. "Stay out of trouble!"

Siren smirked. "Trouble is my middle name." Everyone laughed.

Shifu meditated with some incense in front of him. He breathed evenly, calming his thoughts. The battle against Jiao-long was one of his toughest yet. But now, the crazy Komodo dragon was in Chorh-Gom Prison, and hopefully will remain there. Shifu's ears flicked to the door as it opened. He turned and saw Junjie and Fenghuang.

"Thought we ought to say 'Goodbye'." Fenghuang announced. "We're about to head off."

"Leaving already?" Shifu asked.

"I don't think your students want us here." Junjie said. "It'd be best if we left."

"Very well." Shifu nodded. He stood and looked at each warrior before him. He punched his fist to his palm and bowed to him. "Thank you. I never thought I'd actually work with those I considered enemies, but you've proven yourselves. You helped save Siren."

"It was out pleasure." Fenghuang assured.

"We care about her." Junjie added. "Just like you and Chao." He and Fenghuang bowed back to Shifu.

"Well, I'm off." Fenghuang said. "I must plot my next plan to take over the Jade Palace."

"Or you could leave us alone." Shifu suggested. Fenghuang raised an eyebrow, and Shifu shrugged.

Fenghuang shook her head. "Farewell, gentlemen. Take care." She traveled down the hall and flew off into the distance.

Junjie smiled. "I wonder if I should've told her that members of the Tri-Dragon of Death can't kill each other."

Shifu shook his head. "That ought to put a damper on her plans." He glanced at Junjie. The old fox looked exhausted, even with a day's rest. "You sure you won't stick around for a little longer?"

Junjie's smile shrank. "I can't stay."

"Junjie, out of everyone in the Rebel Army, you have proven yourself the most." Shifu told him. "I trust you."

Junjie nodded. "I know. But can things go back to normal? This isn't like when we were younger; I've done things I'm not that proud of. I've tried to _kill _you. Your students aren't fond of me. I don't think Chao has forgiven me for what I've done. Siren knows me and looks to me like family. As much as I want things to return to normal, it just can't happen. Not now, at least."

Shifu sighed. "So what will you do?"

"Let me lay low for a while." Junjie said. "Who knows? Maybe things _can _return to normal. Just not now."

Shifu nodded. "If you're really willing to change, we can give it a try. We used to be brothers, after all."

Junjie smiled softly. "Thanks, Shifu." He turned and ran off. Shifu looked out the door, but the fox was gone. At his feet was the book about the Tri-Dragon of Death. Shifu picked it up and ran his hand across the cover. He smiled and went to put the book in his room.

After three more days of resting, Chao and Siren decided to head for home.

"You're sure you feel ok to travel?" Po asked worriedly.

"Don't worry about me." Siren assured. "I could take on an army of elephants."

"We'll be fine." Chao added. "We shouldn't reach much, if any, trouble along the way."

"You must come back soon." Tigress insisted.

"Absolutely." Siren smiled. Tigress returned the smile.

"We'd best be going." Chao said. "Thank you all for what you've done. You helped save not only China, but my daughter as well. I am forever in your thanks."

"Not at all." Shifu bowed. The Five and Po followed suit. Chao and Siren returned the gesture before turning to leave. Before leaving, Siren suddenly ran back up the stairs, knelt down, and pulled Shifu into one of her bone-crushing hugs.

"Thank you." She whispered. "For everything."

Shifu returned the hug. Suddenly, he felt something warm on his chest. When Siren pulled away, he saw the golden locket around her neck. Was it just him, or was the locket glowing? Siren smiled and stood up. She spun around and ran back to her father, Bo staff in hand. Her shoulder-length hair had been braided and flew behind her.

"We'll definitely see them again, won't we?" Mantis guessed.

Shifu smiled. "Absolutely.


	25. Chapter Twenty: Winter Feast

**Chapter Twenty- Winter Feast**

_FIVE MONTHS LATER_

"Happy feast guys!" Po called as he came in.

"The feast isn't until tomorrow." Tigress reminded him.

"Aw come on, it's still the holiday!" Po protested. "There's no law that states you can't say 'Happy feast' a couple days early."

"As long as it doesn't get annoying." Monkey said.

Po rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He sat down with his friends to eat.

Shifu came in a few minutes later. "Good news everyone."

"No training?" Po asked hopefully. Everyone gave him a look. Po shrugged. "Just asking."

"No." Shifu droned. "I received a letter. Chao and Siren are coming to the Valley of Peace for the Winter Feast."

"Really?" Tigress asked. "That's great!"

"I kinda missed Siren." Mantis said. "She was pretty cool."

"When will they be here?" Crane asked.

"Now."

The Five and Po jumped as Chao and Siren appeared in the doorway. Siren wasn't wearing her cloak, but instead wore a heavy wool coat, a colorful hat, and a striped scarf. Chao also had a snowflake pattern scarf around his neck.

"H-hey guys." Siren's teeth were chattering slightly.

Po and the Five gave Shifu a look now.

"Well I didn't say _when _the letter came." Shifu noted.

"We just arrived last night." Chao added.

Tigress was the first to rise and bow. "It is an honor to have you here."

The rest of the Five and Po copied her. "Glad you could make the trip in the snow." Viper said.

"Don't mention it." Siren shivered slightly. "But the boots I had to wear on the way here were so uncomfortable."

"It was either those or your feet freezing off." Chao reminded her.

Siren huffed. "Yeah, yeah, I get it."

Shifu chuckled to himself. "Well, I was about to head down with Po to see his father. We're having the feast down there. Care to join us?"

Chao was a little confused. "Why there?"

"All the other masters and spending the Winter Feast with their families." Tigress explained. "It seemed a little silly to have this elaborate feast for just the nine of us. Po's father invited us down to his shop for the holiday."

"Ah, yes." Chao remembered he had read that in the letter Shifu sent. "If I may, I'd like to join you."

"Of course." Po nodded. "We should get down there. I told Dad I'd meet him at the shop after breakfast."

"And we've got cleaning to do." Monkey groaned.

"I'll help." Siren offered.

"You don't have to do that." Viper assured as she and the Five walked out. "It's a tradition we've been carrying out for years."

"After all the traditions a certain panda has ignored, this is one we can't." Monkey teased. Po groaned.

"It's not a problem." Siren assured as she ran to catch up. "Dad makes me clean the house while he and the masters prepare for the feast."

Chao rolled his eyes. "It sounds like she's complaining, but I swear she _enjoys _the cleaning before the feast."

Po smirked. "Come on. Dad's waiting." Shifu and Chao followed Po down the stairs of the mountain and to the Noodle Shop. Many of the village kids were in a full-out snowball fight and the three of them had to duck to avoid flying frozen projectiles. Thankfully, the kids noticed the kung fu masters and tried to not hit them as they passed. When the three of them arrived at the Noodle Shop, Chao was a little confused by how small the place seemed.

"How can two pandas fit in this tiny shop?" Chao whispered to Shifu.

"Uh, Chao, I think I should've warned you about this." Shifu whispered back. "Po lived with his father for a while. And his father, well, he's not-"

"Po!"

"Hey Dad!"

Chao watched as Po ran up and hugged a goose, obviously the owner of the shop.

"Who's that?" Chao whispered.

"Po's father." Shifu answered.

Chao's eyes widened in surprise. "But he's a goose."

"I know." Shifu nodded. "Don't bring it up."

Po was leading Mr. Ping to the two masters, who straightened up.

"Dad, you know Master Shifu." Po introduced. "This is Master Chao. He's-"

"The Hierarch of the Sacred Onyx Council." Mr. Ping sounded like he was reciting a play. "One of the strongest warriors in China and totally awesome in all aspects."

There was an awkward silence.

"Um….." Chao raised an eyebrow.

Mr. Ping waved a wing. "Believe me, I know who you are. Po is constantly talking about all the great kung fu masters."

"Dad….." Po whined.

"Well you do!" Mr. Ping insisted. He bowed in respect to Chao. "It is an honor to have you in my humble shop."

Realizing Mr. Ping's kindness, Chao bowed back. "It is a pleasure. The Dragon Warrior tells me that the Jade Palace will be celebrating the Winter Feast here."

"Oh yes." Mr. Ping nodded as he walked into the shop. The three warriors followed him. "There's always room for one more at Mr. Ping's. Besides, a lot of the neighbors are planning this party right in front of the shop. It should be quite fun."

"Anything you need help with?" Po offered.

"Not now." Mr. Ping said. "I still need you to help me cook tomorrow night, but I should be good."

"Coolness!" Po cheered. "Then I'd better head back to the palace. Bye!"

"Hold it, young man!" Mr. Ping called. "Doesn't a certain panda I know have to clean his room for the Winter Feast?"

Po stopped and groaned. "But Dad, I've still gotta clean my room at the palace?"

"I thought you did that yesterday?" Shifu said.

Po shut his mouth, a guilty look on his face. "Uh, I did…"

Shifu raised an eyebrow. "You did it right after I told you to?"

Po rocked on his heels. "Well, you know….."

Shifu groaned. "You can clean it before you go to bed tonight. And you won't go to bed until it's done."

"Aw man!" Po groaned.

"First you clean your room here!" Mr. Ping called from the kitchen. "Chop chop!"

Po groaned again and trudged off to his room.

Chao shook his head as he and Shifu walked off. "I remember when Siren was that bad. Now she's neat as a pin." The two masters laughed.

When they returned to the Jade Palace, they found the Five and Siren training together. Shifu and Chao personally inspected the rooms and found each one perfect. Most of the credit, according to the Five, had to be given to Siren, who had the eye of a perfectionist and noticed even the tiniest details. Siren could only smile proudly. The rest of the day went by smoothly. Po was up late that night cleaning his room. Apparently, he had gotten distracted in his room at the shop and it took longer than normal. So the next day, he slept in longer than anyone else. He left later that afternoon to help his father. Everyone else dressed themselves for the feast.

The Five disappeared into their rooms and came out in their formal Winter Feast attire. Both Tigress and Shifu opted out for wearing their elaborate hats, admitting that they were clumsy and annoying to wear.

"Everyone ready?" Shifu asked. He readjusted the clasp that held his silver wrap around him.

"Almost." Monkey said.

"Waiting on Chao and Siren." Crane informed.

"Actually, only waiting on Siren." Chao said as he came around the corner. He wore red pants and a silver robe with dragons on it. The cuffs and trim of his robes were also red.

"Where is Siren?" Tigress asked.

"Still getting ready." Chao said. "Said something about putting her hair up." The seven of them journeyed to the human's room and Shifu knocked on the door.

"You ready yet?" he called.

"Just a sec!" Siren's voice sounded weird.

"Is something wrong?"

"No." Siren called. "I just got pins in my mouth." Some sounds came from inside the room, followed by an "Ouch!" from Siren. Then, she stepped out of the room to show everyone. Crane, Mantis, and Monkey's jaws dropped.

Siren was in a beautiful silver robe with a golden sash. The robe was dotted with snowflakes. The sash had a white dragon stitched into it. On her feet were beautiful white shoes with a Shaolin leg wrap. The cloth for the wraps was pure white. Her obsidian hair was pulled up in a perfect bun on her head. Her comb with the peach blossom, the one Chao gave her from her mother, was stuck inside the bun. Instead of her Bo staff in her hands, she had a black fan with silver flowers all over it.

Monkey was the first to speak. "Wow."

"You look pretty." Mantis was almost drooling. One look from Chao was enough for the three boys to take a step back.

Siren laughed a little. "It's kind of new. Especially the comb."

"You look perfect." Shifu assured. "Let's get down to the village." They walked off. Chao stayed by Siren's side, particularly to keep a certain three boys away. They all arrived at the Noodle Shop and found a large group of people in front. Weaving through the crowd, Shifu was the first to notice Lily and Ling dancing with their battle fans to the musician's music. The panther twins were dressed in matching gold and red outfits that gleamed in the light.

"Evening ladies." Shifu greeted.

"Good evening, Grandmaster." Ling said as she landed in a split position in front of him. "Still don't want to join us?"

"Didn't we go over this five months ago?" Shifu reminded her. Ling only laughed as she twirled away to dance with her sister. Shifu rolled his eyes and laughed as he followed the Five, Chao, and Siren into the Noodle Shop. It was busy as ever. Po was serving soup to some customers when he noticed his friends.

"Hey guys!" he greeted. "Dad reserved a table for ya back here!"

"You didn't have to do that." Shifu assured.

"Don't worry about it." Po insisted, leading the group to a table near the kitchen. "We're all family here." He bowed in respect to Chao. "Glad you and Siren could make it."

"It's our pleasure." Chao bowed back. Siren did the same. When Po saw her attire, his jaw dropped.

"Wow." He said. "You look-" One look from Chao made the panda rethink his words. "….uh, very nice, Siren."

Siren giggled. "Thanks Po." She sat down next to her father. "So I hear you can cook pretty well."

"Oh yeah!" Po nodded. "Let me get you guys some soup!" He rushed back into the kitchen. The warriors at the table watched in amazement as Po moved about the kitchen, slicing and chopping vegetables at rapid speeds. In a few minutes, he had bowls of soup on a tray he held in each hand. He bounced the bowls up. Each bowl slid to one of the warriors at the table without spilling a drop.

"Impressive." Chao noted. He tried the soup. "And very good. You're lucky you can cook and fight as well. Both are useful talents."

"I remember the first time you tried to cook something." Shifu added. "You almost burned down the kitchen."

Chao frowned. "Oh, you're going to bring _that _up again?"

Everyone laughed. But only Po noticed that Siren wasn't laughing at all; or smiling for that matter. She was staring at her food. Her chopsticks were wet on the end, so she must've tried it.

Po slid into the chair next to her. "How do you like it?" Siren didn't answer. "If there's something about it you don't like, I can change something." Siren didn't even look towards him. Instead, she stood up from her chair and ran from the table.

"Siren?" Chao called. Po stood up and ran after Siren. Chao was about to follow when Tigress held up her hand.

"Don't." she said. Chao was confused, but he slowly sat down.

Siren stood down the road from the shop. She knelt beneath a tree, the spot bare from snow. She let her tears stream down her face. However, she didn't know that Po was behind her, and she was very surprised when he pulled her into a hug.

"Did I do something wrong?" Po asked after he set her down.

Siren wiped her eyes. "No. I just….." She looked away. "I was thinking about my mom. She loved to cook, and she always knew how to make something simple into something amazing. She made soup just like yours for dinner all the time." Siren sniffled. "I remembered it so vividly. And then I remembered how she's not around anymore."

Po looked down. He never thought he would inadvertently hurt someone. Well, actually, he does that a lot. But this was different; this was a true, emotional pain. Po hugged Siren again.

"I know it must hurt." Po said. "There's no way I could imagine it though. I never knew my mom."

Siren pulled away. "Really?"

Po smiled. "I grew up with only my dad to take care of me. My dad's a _goose_. But he cares about me like I was his own son. I grew up without a mother at all. So you're lucky; you know your mom. And she'll never really go away. I'm sure she's watching you, right now."

Siren remembered the talk she had with her mother when she was unconscious. She smiled when she realized Po was right. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw her father, smiling down at her.

"We should get back." He advised. "There are some people worried about you."

Siren smiled and nodded. She, Chao, and Po walked back to the shop to continue enjoying the party. Siren was able to eat her soup and not feel sad. The warriors continued talking and laughing. After a while, Tigress and Viper broke away from the group to watch Lily and Ling dance. The boys, minus Shifu and Chao, followed them. Ling was constantly sending smiles and winks towards the boys, making them drool and make dreamy eyes.

Shifu shook his head. "Even though she's an ally to the Jade Palace, Ling is always going to be like that."

"Well, she's good at it." Chao noted.

Siren was watching Lily and Ling with amazement, entranced by their dancing. "Hey Dad, can I go dance with the twins?"

"I don't know, _can _you?" Chao asked. Siren groaned and hit her head against the table. Chao smirked. He missed being able to do that.

Siren lifted her head. "_May _I go dance with the twins? Please?" She gave him her best pout.

Chao waved her off. "Yes, have fun."

"Thanks Dad!" Siren stood up in a hurry and ran off. In her excitement, she had slammed her hands on the table. One hand got the edge of her soup bowl and sent its contents flying into Chao's face. The lizard stared straight ahead, noodles across his face and broth dripping from his jaw.

"Um, Chao." Shifu said. "You have a little-"

"Not one word out of you." Chao droned. Shifu chuckled. After Chao had gotten cleaned up, he and Shifu wandered over to the group of people who watched the twins dance. Only this time, Siren had joined. She opened her fan and danced with the panther twins. She twirled and leaped around, doing flips and pirouettes. Chao and Shifu watched in amazement. Lily and Ling had stepped aside and let the human take the spotlight. Siren hardly noticed. To her, everything was a blur of color and lights. She swiped her foot across the ground and sent snow flying. Lily and Ling shared a look and nodded. They ran in to finish the dance. Ling spun and did a few moves before landing in a strong stance on one foot. Lily crouched down. Siren jumped off her back. Lily ran to her sister, jumped and did a flip before landing on Ling's outstretched hand. Lily held her feet up as Siren landed on them, finishing the dance. Everyone clapped and cheered. The girls got to their feet and bowed.

_STAR STAR STAR STAR STAR_

Shifu meditated in front of the Moon Pool the next morning. The entire valley was still covered in snow. His breaths came out in icy clouds. Every time he breathed in, he felt like ice was lining the inside of his lungs. His ears flicked towards the door as he heard it open and then close.

"Hey Shifu."

Shifu opened his eyes and turned. He smiled. "Hey Junjie."

The fox smiled as he walked up to Shifu. "Happy feast."

"A little late, aren't we?" Shifu joked.

Junjie shook his head. "Better late than never. How is everything?"

"Fine." Shifu stood to face Junjie. "Siren's looking better than ever."

"She's strong, that one." Junjie agreed. "Just like her parents."

Shifu nodded. He looked into his reflection in the Moon Pool. He noticed Junjie's reflection. It looked so old, so tired.

"Are you doing alright?" Shifu asked sincerely. "I haven't seen you since the battle."

"I'm fine." Junjie assured. "Trying to find someplace to stay rather than out in the forest."

"My offer to stay in the palace is still up." Shifu reminded him. "I still trust you."

Junjie nodded. "But you're forgetting about your students. They won't trust me for a long time, if ever." He sighed. "Things were so much simpler when we were kids. I was blinded by hatred, and I hate myself for letting it get out of hand. If I could turn back the clock and change everything, I would. But I can't."

"Who knows?" Shifu shrugged. "Ren obviously wasn't born here; humans don't exist in our world. She came here and then left through unnatural means. Siren's powers aren't natural either. Maybe there's a force out there that can change time."

Junjie smiled. "You think Siren can travel through time?"

"If she could, we may never find out." Shifu said sadly. "Siren's powers are gone." Junjie stared at him. "Siren told me about it. A few days after she returned home, she tried to use her powers, but they wouldn't work. She may have overused them in her battle."

Junjie stared into the Moon Pool's waters. "So, she's just a normal human?"

"She's still a great kung fu warrior." Shifu reminded him.

Junjie nodded. Suddenly, his ears flicked to the doors. "I'd better go. I think someone's coming."

Shifu nodded. "Take care of yourself. Don't get your brainless tail into trouble."

Junjie smirked. "Whatever." He darted to the columns and scaled them to the roof. No doubt he would jump off and run away. Shifu turned to the doors as Chao and Siren came in.

"Can I help you?" Shifu asked.

"Siren has a surprise for us." Chao said. He looked just as confused as Shifu.

"Just close your eyes." Siren insisted. The two masters exchanged looks, but obeyed. Siren took each of their hands in hers and led them out the doors. They didn't stop for a while, and when they did Siren had them each sit down on something cold and metal…and round.

"Uh, Siren?" Shifu called with his eyes still closed. "What are we doing?"

"Something you two used to do when you were kids." Siren said. She had a mischievous tone to her voice.

"Siren…." Chao warned.

"Open your eyes!" Siren called as she pushed them.

Shifu and Chao opened, just in time to see themselves sitting in woks at the top of the Jade Palace's steps.

"Siren!" Shifu shouted.

Too late.

Shifu and Chao went sliding down the stairs. All they could do was hold on and not get thrown from their makeshift sleds. Siren was right behind them, whooping and laughing. The three of them landed hard at the bottom. Shifu and Chao went flying from their sleds and landed in the snow. Siren laughed, holding her stomach.

"That was fun, huh?" she laughed.

"Not in the least!" Shifu shouted.

Siren only laughed harder. Chao suddenly picked up some snow and chucked it at her. Siren's laughs were muffled by the snow. She growled and threw a snowball right back. Chao ducked, and the snow hit Shifu right in the face. Siren busted out laughing again. Chao and Shifu shared a look, grinned, and each picked up some snow.

"Hey Chao." Shifu said loud enough for Siren to hear. "Remember that other thing we used to do as kids?"

"You mean our snowball fights with Junjie?" Chao answered.

Only then did Siren realize the danger. She laughed sheepishly. "Ten second head start?"

"Three seconds." Chao corrected.

Po and the Five were in the Training Hall when they heard the scream. They burst through the doors and found Siren being bombarded by snow. Shifu and Chao threw snow and blocked snowballs thrown back. Siren was a fierce snowball fighter. She could make a snowball in one second and then send it flying the next. Unfortunately, one of the snowballs she threw missed Chao's head (he had ducked) and hit Po right in the nose.

"Ah!" he shouted. "Cold!"

Siren laughed. "Sorry Po!"

"Oh, you're gonna get it now!" he threatened. The panda picked up some snow and threw it. Due to misfire, however, the snow hit Chao in the head. The lizard glared at Po. The panda looked ready to die, but Shifu threw a snowball that knocked him on his tail.

"Free-for-all!" Siren shouted, throwing snow at Tigress.

The Five and Po joined in the fight. Snow was thrown in every direction you could think of. Everyone got pelted with snow. Even Chao and Shifu, with all their training, were covered in white by the end of the game. Crane may have had the advantage of flight, but Siren quickly brought him down. By the time everyone had stopped, the courtyard was a mess and everyone was out of breath and white. They journeyed back inside the palace to get dry and have some tea to warm up.

"I still say Siren started it." Chao insisted. "She pushed us down the mountain."

"But you were the one who threw the snow first." Shifu protested.

"It was payback." Chao shrugged.

Everyone laughed. Outside the door, Siren smiled softly. She silently slipped away and outside. She breathed in the cold night air. She walked down the path, remembering every step as one she had taken when she was younger. She kept walking until she reached the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom. She looked up at the bare branches. She wished she could see it bloom. Siren always loved being in the Jade Palace during the spring because the peach tree somehow sent the smell of blossoms all over the palace. Siren gently touched the bark of the tree. It felt so smooth and rough at the same time, like Master Oogway's shell. She could imagine the tortoise now, teaching her calming tai chi movements under this very tree, peach blossoms falling around them like rain.

Siren suddenly reached up and pulled something down from her head. At first, she thought it was snow. But when she opened her hand, there was a peach blossom in her hand. Siren looked up at the peach tree. The branches were bare and covered in snow. Siren placed her hand on the tree and concentrated.

The change began. The snow on the tree and around Siren melted. Peach blossoms bloomed all over the tree, making it bright pink. The grass turned bright green. The air smelled of peach blossoms. Siren looked around her. The area ten feet in diameter around her looked like spring while everything else was winter. Siren took her hand away from the tree bark. Instantly, the peach blossoms fell from the tree and blew away in the wind. It started snowing; no doubt it would cover her tracks by morning.

Siren stared at her hand.


End file.
